Starting Over, Again
by Idina.Menzel.Girl
Summary: With their fathers away on business, Shelby steps up in taking care of Rachel and her twin sister, Ava.
1. Chapter 1

**So, in case some of you haven't noticed, my stories were deleted. Not by me but some unknown person. I do not have any of my stories backed up on my computer (a stupid mistake on my part but who would have thought this would have happened?). I was just going to pick each story up where they were left off, however, for any new readers that wouldn't have made sense for them. Leaving me to rewrite each one. It's gonna take some time, so please be patient.**

**Obviously none of the stories will be exactly the same but close in some ways.  
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**I know I haven't been updating lately but I've been back in the hospital a couple times, as well as being sick, plus having to deal with a personal crisis. I am coming back to writing though.  
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Ten weeks into the school year and the excitement of starting Junior year had worn off. Summer had been, for the most part, the best summer break so far. Rachel and Puck were still dating, having surviving a 75 hour breakup in early August just a few weeks before school started, and were just two months away from celebrating their one year anniversary. Rachel and Puck were completely different people but Rachel figured that's why they were the perfect couple. There was always something new for them to do and learn about each other. Puck was able to get Rachel to relax occasionally and Rachel got Puck to start taking school a little more seriously. Now he was sticking around for more than just lunch and study hall.

Ava's summer had been fairly nice, especially after she met Sam Evans a week and a half after summer break started. The two danced around dating for awhile until one drunken night when Ava poured her heart out to Sam regarding Shelby's departure the night of regionals, just a month earlier. Sam and Ava slept together following Ava's tearful story, leaving Ava pregnant. Sophomore year, during Quinn's pregnancy and following the birth of her and Finn's daughter, Beth, Ava had been given the title of head Cheerio by Sue. After announcing her pregnancy the week before cheer practice started up again, Ava stepped down and handed in her uniform, feeling that continuing in the activity was putting her baby's life at risk. Of course this was said in front of Quinn, leaving the blonde fuming at the remark.

It was the middle of November and Sectionals were only two weeks away. Rachel typically wasn't so nervous and had been looking forward to their second sectionals rodeo, however, just the day before Will had announced that Sue had been ordered by Principal Figgins to attend the out of district competition with Will, Miss Pillsbury, and New Directions. Rachel was sure the cheerleading coach was up to something and was secretly working on a new set list using the assignments Will had given over the last few weeks to have as back up.

"Are you sure Santana and Brittany have no idea what Sue has planned?" Rachel asked once again, pulling into a parking space in the parking lot of McKinley High School.

"No and seeing as Santana and Brittany haven't talked to Quinn since she was given her Head Cheerio status back, there's no way of knowing if Quinn knows anything." Ava answered, wiggling herself out of the front passenger seat. "

"Can't we just have one competition where there isn't any drama?" Rachel growled. "First our set list gets handed out to our opponents, then our mother tells us she wants a family, that doesn't include us."

"I wish I could say this year will be different but with Sue going, we all know things aren't going to be so easy."

"Quinn better hope for her sake that she has no part in anything Sue may have planned or Finn will be a single father." Rachel gave the empty threat.

Ava gave a small reply and closed her door, reminding Rachel to pop the trunk of the car so they could get their backpacks. Leaving their glee duffel bags in the trunk, the lid was closed once more and the two headed into the school. Sam was at his locker, talking to Finn and Puck about their game that was the past Saturday, when he saw the girls walking in. Knowing Quinn would be pissed if he was around the Berry girls, Finn quickly said goodbye and hurried off.

"Hey baby." Sam kissed Ava's cheek, rubbing her swollen belly. "Three more days."

"I can't wait." Ava grinned, thinking about finding out the sex of their baby. "You're still coming, right Rach?"

"Of course!" Rachel said from her spot in Puck's arms.

"What about you, uncle Noah?" Sam smirked.

"Don't worry, I rearranged my job cleaning the Morris' indoor pool so I could be there." Puck said, patting Ava's belly.

"Great. Ava and I also want to know if you guys want to go out for lunch afterwards?"

"Yeah." Rachel nodded after Puck did. "We'd love too."

"Awesome." Ava beamed with excitement. "I'm gonna go get something to eat from the cafeteria before class starts, Rach want me to bring you anything?"

"I'm...Busy." Rachel replied, to wrapped up in Puck's mouth to give a decent reply.

"Come on, babe." Sam said, wrapping an arm around Ava's waist.

"I love you." Rachel said into Puck's mouth.

"I love you too." Puck said, pushing Rachel gently into the set of lockers.

"Miss Berry and Mr. Puckerman, I suggest you find something else to do with your time whilst waiting for classes to start." Figgins said, walking to the front doors to greet members of the school board. Normally he didn't mind PDA but not when the school board was watching the halls.

"We could go make sure no one is misusing one of the empty classrooms?" Puck slyly whispered into Rachel's ear, causing a low moan to escape from her mouth. "I thought so, come on."

Twenty minutes later the bell rang alerting students that there was 10 minutes until the school day started. Rachel and Puck walked out of the room, Rachel straightening her hair down with her hands. Puck kissed Rachel as she linked her fingers in his.

"You're becoming a regular bad-ass. Perhaps I should call you Puckette."

Rachel giggled and fixed her lip gloss before they started walking to Rachel's first class of the day. The loudspeaker clicked on as the two began climbing the stairs.

"Rachel and Ava Berry to the main office, please. Rachel and Ava Berry to the main office please. Thank you."

"I'll walk you down." Puck said.

"It's alright, I'll see you later." Rachel brushed him off.

"You sure?"

"Yeah." She nodded and kissed his lips one last time.

Rachel sighed and turned around, descending the stairs. It had been awhile since she found herself in the office and wondered what she could possibly be in trouble for. Ava caught up with Rachel as she came out of the girl's bathroom.

"What did you do this time?" They asked one another at the same time.

"The only thing I can think of is telling my math teacher off for making a rude Streisand joke." Rachel said, then turned to her twin. "You?"

"We'll I did lie last week and told the secretary I had a doctors appointment, when really I went out to lunch with Sam."

Ava pushed open the large glass door and went up to the secretary's desk. Her and Rachel were instructed to go into a small conference room next to the principal's office to wait.

"This is different." Ava said, dropping her bag on the floor next to a chair, sitting down with Rachel next to her.

"Yeah. I wonder what's going on."

After waiting over five minutes, both girls were becoming annoyed. Rachel was getting ready to go out and ask what was taking so long, when they saw a shadow behind the frosted window and the door knob twisted. It was about 30 seconds of hearing muffled voices before door finally opened. The secretary poked her head in and said the principal would be ready to see them shortly. A total of 18 minutes of waiting and the door opened again. The secretary Motioned them out of the room and Rachel shot Ava a confused look when they saw Figgins leaving the office with a cart loaded up with his personal things. They were walked to the office and the secretary blocked their view.

"The Berry twins are here." She said before looking at the twins. "The principal will see you now."

"Principal?" Rachel whispered to Ava.

Ava shrugged and walked past Rachel to go into the office.

"Shelby?" Ava gasped.

"What the hell?" Rachel responded, quietly to seeing her biological mother behind the desk.

"Have a seat." Shelby said, pointing to the chairs in front of the desk.

"I think I'll stand." Rachel replied, not sure if she could even walk to the chairs that were just a few short feet away.

"Me too." Ava said, pulling her sweater closed around her midsection, though it did little to hide her nearly 20 week belly.

"Alright." Shelby said, standing up. She walked around her desk and stood by the two chairs and sat down on the edge of her desk. "I'm sure you're wondering what I am doing here, in Figgins' office no less." Neither girl answered but then again Shelby didn't need a reply to know she was right. "As it turns out the school board felt Mr. Figgins wasn't going his job in running this school. The board has received countless reports of constant bullying from parents and students and after several failed attempts to straighten things out, I was called in and asked to take his position."

"Have you even ever been a principal before?" Rachel asked, raising a brow. "Do you even know what you are doing?"

"Several of the board members are aware of my ability to keep students in line and that I don't tolerate bullying, skipping school, lying, or any other funny business." Shelby answered. "They're willing to give me a chance."

"Well then I guess all there is to say is, welcome to McKinley and good luck." Ava said, trying to keep her emotions in check and preserve the same show face that her mother and sister were wearing.

What Ava didn't know was Shelby could see right through her. The way Ava had her arms folded and running her hands up and down her arms like she was cold, was the same thing Shelby did when she was overly nervous. Eventually she had learned how to control it but it was clear that Ava had yet to learn that skill.

"Thank you, Ava. I appreciate it." Shelby warmly smiled. "Look, I know this is a shock but I wanted to be the one to tell you about my new job here. It's going to be awkward at first, however, we are all adults and can make this work."

"Right." Rachel said. "But we really should get to class, we're already late as it is."

"Of course." Shelby nodded and started looking around for some hall passes. "I'm sorry, I just got this office and haven't had time to organize things."

"It's fine, we'll just get one from the secretary." Ava said.

"Okay." Shelby said, putting down a stack of detention slips. "Well, um, h-have a good day."

Rachel and Ava left Shelby's office without another word and after leaving with their passes in hand, they headed to their first hour classes. Neither one had any idea what to say and ended up just going to their classes, giving each other a short goodbye. Rachel sat in her History class, half following along to the group reading she was suppose to be doing. She got through History and three more classes before it was finally her lunch. Puck was waiting for Rachel outside her classroom door and instantly noticed something was wrong with his girlfriend.

"Babe?" Puck asked, brushing his hand across Rachel's cheek. "What is it?"

"Nothing." Rachel shook her head.

Puck knew there was something bothering Rachel but also knew Rachel wasn't going to say a thing until she was ready too. Sam and Ava were already in the lunchroom and had gotten their food and were now sitting down to eat. Rachel gave a small wave to her sister and Sam. She leaned back into Puck as they stood in line to get their own lunches. playing with the promise ring on Puck's left hand ring finger.

"What is it?" Puck pushed, hating when Rachel got this way.

"My mom." Rachel whispered. "She's back."

"What? That's great." Puck smiled, knowing how much Rachel wanted Shelby to be her mom.

"No. It's not." Rachel shook her head and turned to face him.

"Why?"

"She didn't say anything about being my mom. It was all about her being the principal. She came back for a job and not for us. I mean, she didn't even break the slightest bit to having the daughters she gave up and abandoned, standing right in front of her. She was Coach Corcoran."

"Maybe she's just hesitant to bring up that topic, knowing she's hurt you badly in the past." Puck said, holding Rachel firmly against him. "Why don't you go and talk to her? She could be waiting for you two to come to her."

"Because!" Rachel exclaimed, becoming angry. In the whole situation involving Shelby, Rachel tried to keep it all inside and not let anyone see how hard it was for her to deal with. Suddenly, Rachel was being forced to revisit all those old feelings she worked so hard to protect. "I refuse to let myself or my sister be hurt by her again."

Shelby, who had decided to attend each lunch hour to see how the lunchroom monitors handled things, saw Rachel as she was passing through the serving area and went over to say hello, wanting to check and see how she was doing from their uncomfortable reunion. The closer she got, the more she realized the couple was having a conversation about her. The anger in Rachel's voice was seeing to be too much for the woman and knowing Rachel felt that she didn't care, killed Shelby.

"Rachel." Shelby said, making the girl turn and look at her.

"What do you want?" Rachel shortly asked, frustrated that Shelby may have over heard what she said.

"I couldn't help but catch some of what you two were talking about." Shelby started but Rachel, letting her ego get in the way, didn't want to hear anything that Shelby was about to say.

"There's nothing you can say _Principal_ Corcoran." Rachel spat, moving away from Puck and folding her arms. "I know why you are here and it isn't for me or Ava."

"You're-"

"Don't try to deny it." Rachel interrupted. "You seemed to make that very clear this morning, it's all about the job."

"But Rachel-"

"Fuck you." Rachel sneered and stormed away with Puck fast on her heels.

Shelby rubbed her face slowly and as she dropped her hands, she came face to face with Ava. Hearing her sister yelling, Ava glanced up and had seen the two talking. Sam tried to make her sit back down but Ava wasn't having it. Unlike her encounter with Rachel, Shelby wasn't met with anger in Ava but with tears running down the girl's face.

"Ava, I was only trying to tell her that-"

"-Why here? Why now?" Ava asked, her voice shaking hard. "We were starting to move on and accept you backing out on your mission to becoming our mother. Then you just show up here, like everything is fine, like we would be fine?"

"Honey." Shelby sorrowfully frowned, reaching out to touch her daughter but Ava backed away.

"No." Ava shook her head and backed away, crashing into Sam. He held onto her and she turned into him.

"Come on, let's go find Rachel." Sam said, walking Ava away from her mother.

Rachel was angrily pacing the hallway with Puck standing by, having never seen Rachel this pissed. Ava wiped her tears away and walked over to her sister, grabbing her arms to force her to stop walking. Rachel's infuriated eyes quickly crumpled and she began to cry, clinging to her younger sister. Ava held on to Rachel, letting her get it all out. Both the twins had been at Carmel's auditorium when they discovered that Shelby was their mom and both were in attendance when Shelby said they should be grateful from afar. Both had held onto one another, trying not to cry as their mom sang Lady Gaga's Poker Face (with help from the twins) but it was Rachel who had sought their mom out at Regionals, hoping to get Shelby to change her mind. Ava thought it wasn't a good idea but Rachel was determined and didn't give up easily.

"I said fuck you to her. Why did I do that?" Rachel cried into Ava's hair.

"It's okay to be mad at her Rachel." Ava soothed. "And really, we don't need her. All we need is each other, we've gone this far."

"But you're gonna have the baby soon and things aren't going to be the same. We can't do this alone, great grandma isn't any help, not that being partially blind and deaf is her fault. Sam's super religious parents haven't forgiven you for getting pregnant and Puck's mom isn't any help. Ava how are we going to care for a baby or pay for anything? Neither one of us knows how to be a mom and we haven't had an example to go by. On top of all that, I'll preparing for getting into college." Rachel said, stepping away from her sister. It all began to hit her of the change that was about to come and she started to panic. "Ava, what are we going to do?"

Ava opened her mouth to say something but she wasn't sure what to say and closed her mouth. She was about to reply with an _I'm not sure_ or _I don't know_ but Shelby walked up to the pair.

"You're going to let me take care of both of you." The twins were shocked into complete silence and Shelby, glanced between the two. "Why didn't you tell me?" Shelby paused, shaking her head. Stupid question. She knew why they didn't say anything. "It doesn't matter. It's clear you girls need me and I am here this time. I promise I am here for good."

Rachel and Ava shared a look but nothing was said. Shelby sensed they were still reeling from her sudden announcement that she was taking them in and took a hold of Ava's hand, wrapping her other arm around Rachel's shoulders. Shelby led the girls to her office, asking the secretary to hold all calls and not to disturb her. Once in her office, Shelby shut the door, locking it. She turned around to find the girls standing nearly in the same spots they had been in earlier that day.

"Sit." Shelby said in a tone that the girls took to be serious and they did as they were told. Shelby walked around the desk, sitting down and taking a few deep breaths. "Okay. First things first, how long have you been living with your 87 year old great grandmother?"

"Um, since May." Rachel spoke up. "Our dads are on an extended business trip in South Africa, where they are helping in supervising the building of a school for the local children. They would have been home a month ago but there was a bad storm that set them back and they aren't expected to be home until after the new year. They didn't really want to stay gone that long but Ava and I support them doing good for people in need."

Shelby listened to Rachel carefully as the girl explained that their dads do love them and how they call every day to say goodnight to the twins. Rachel also explained how her Great Grandma's health was slowly deteriorating. Shelby glanced over at Ava, who was rubbing the arms of her chair, part of her nervous habit. Ava knows Shelby is going to have questions for her and she was right. As soon as she got the information from Rachel, she turned to Ava.

"How far along are you?"

"I'll be twenty weeks in a few days." Ava answered, expecting some sort of judgement on Shelby's behalf. Quinn's parents weren't happy when her pregnancy was uncovered but Shelby wasn't Judy or Russell Fabray. The judgement she was expecting, never came.

"And check ups?" Shelby asked.

"I've only been to three." Ava answered, telling Shelby about the ultrasound appointment on Friday but that was only to have an ultrasound and not to see her doctor.

"That needs to change, you should have been to at least five. Those appointments are very important for the sake of your and the baby's health." Shelby said, trying to sound like she was lecturing too hard. Sitting forward in her chair, Shelby thought for a few seconds and then looked back up at the girls. "Here's what I want to do, I want to call your dads."

"Shelby, please-"

"No, you can't-"

"Stop, right there." Shelby threw up a hand, stopping all protesting. "I want to call your dads and talk to them about the clause in our contract."

"Clause?" Rachel asked, both girls raising a brow or two. They were aware of the contract but knew nothing of a clause.

"It states that if your dads are unable to physically take care of you, I, if I so wished, could step in. If your dads agree that it would be best for me to take you in, then I'd meet with their lawyer and get my parental rights reinstated. Which I fully intended to do anyway." Shelby added to reassure the girls that she was serious. Getting up, Shelby walked over to the file cabinet and opened a large drawer, looking for their school files. Grabbing Rachel's, she sat back at her desk and searched for the numbers, feeling like there was no better time than the present to call the men.

"Hiram Berry." Hiram said over the speakerphone.

"Hi Hiram, it's Shelby Corcoran." Shelby said, clearing her throat. "Is Leroy there with you?"

"Um, yes. Give me one second." Hiram said, sounding taken back by Shelby's voice. "Shelby?"

"Yes."

"We're both right here." Leroy said. "How can we help you?"

"Uh, I've recently as of today, became the principal of McKinley High School and after speaking with the twins, they've told me that they are living with their great grandmother."

"Yes. They are with my grandmother because we are on a business trip." Leroy said.

"I am aware, however, Rachel has said that your grandmother isn't in very good health."

"What?" Leroy said. This was news to him.

"She's sick daddy." Rachel spoke up. "Her hearing and eye sight, it's failing. She's been getting worse over the last several months. It's coming to the point where someone needs to be with her every moment of the day. Right now Emilia, Noah's great grandmother, has been going over to stay with her during the day while we are at school."

"I can't believe this." Leroy sighed. "When I talk to her she claims she is doing great."

"She doesn't want you to worry and we didn't want you to have to leave your job because of it." Rachel continued.

"Maybe we should come home." Hiram said to Leroy. "We left them with Rose so she could take care of them not the other way around."

"Daddies, you can't leave. What about the school?" Rachel said.

"Baby, I know you and your sister are very proud of our work and you have both been amazingly supportive in this time but you two are ultimately our first priority." Hiram said. "You shouldn't be taking on the stress of caring for Grandma Rose."

"Look, I was calling for this very reason." Shelby said. "There is the clause at the end of the contract. I'd be more than willing to have the girls move in with me, especially with Ava's condition, she needs someone who can help her stay on top of appointments and all that."

"Shit." Ava whispered to herself. Shelby caught it and tilted her head at Ava.

"Ava's condition? What's wrong? Is she there? Is she sick, maybe we should come home." Leroy rapidly asked.

"Ava is right here and I am guessing she has something to tell you." Shelby said, pushing the phone set closer to Ava. "Go on."

"Hi Daddies." Ava softly said.

"Hi, sweetheart. What's going on?" Hiram asked calmly, even though he was was worried for his daughter.

"Sam, he got-" Ava started but Shelby cleared her throat, shaking her head at the girl. "I'm kinda, well, pregnant."

"I'm sorry. Did you say you're pregnant?" Hiram said, not really asking her the question.

"I'm sorry." Ava said, beginning to cry. "I really am. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"We know you probably didn't mean it and we will discuss this later, you understand me young lady?" Leroy sternly said, offering very little sympathy for the girl.

"Yes, Sir." Ava nodded, accepting the tissue Shelby passed her.

"Shelby?" Leroy said.

"I'm here."

"Hiram and I need a few minutes to talk this out. Could we perhaps call you back?"

"Sure. Yes, of course. Take all the time you need." Shelby agreed.

"And we can call you back at this number?"

"Yup, this is the direct number to my office."

"Alright, we'll call you back."

Shelby hung up the phone after goodbyes were exchanged. She watched the two girls, holding hands and silently consoling each other. Past the girls Shelby noticed the two boys that were with the girls earlier had walked into the main office and were sitting at the chairs just outside of her office.

"They seem like nice boys." Shelby spoke out.

Ava and Rachel glanced up at their mom, then looked over their shoulders to see their boyfriends. Sam gave Ava a concerned smile and Ava gave him a slight nod. Puck was busy on his phone and Rachel frowned but her own phone began to ring and Rachel grabbed it from her backpack.

"Hey." Rachel giggled, turning back around to look at Puck.

"How are things going?"

"Not as bad as I thought. We're waiting for my dads to callback but I'll explain the rest later. What are you two doing here?"

"Can we come in?" Sam asked, taking the phone away from Puck.

Rachel looked back at her mom and she didn't get the chance to ask when Shelby nodded. "Yeah, come in."

Shelby watched as Ava and Rachel stood up, giving their respective loves a kiss. Puck sat down on the chair, Rachel falling into his lap without help from Puck. Sam on the other hand, let his girl sit back down on her own but started to rub her shoulders. He leaned down and whispered into Ava's ears, asking her questions about what had happened after Shelby brought her and her sister down to the office. Ava nodded a couple times and other times she turned her head and whispered into his ear. A small smile crossed Shelby's face as Sam placed a hand on Ava's belly and rubbed loving circles around her belly. Her smile, however, faded looking over at Rachel and Puck, who were practically sucking each others faces off. She really didn't need two pregnant teens on her hands.

"Sectionals!" Shelby exclaimed, four sets of eyes turning to face her out burst. "That should be coming up, right?"

"Uh, yeah." Rachel replied, wiping her mouth. "In two weeks, actually."

"Rachel has the solo." Ava smiled proudly at her sister.

"Really? That's great!" Shelby said to Rachel.

"Yeah, I offered to let Ava have it because it'll probably be her only competition this season but she declined. Although it was probably a good move on her part, the judges are already going to notice her enlarged midsection, having her sing a solo would only throw it in their faces."

"Thank you, Rachel." Ava said, in a tone that warned her sister that she was becoming slightly rude.

"Right. Sorry." Rachel blushed, trying to work on how she talked to people.

The bell rang, ending lunch and Shelby sent the boys to their next class. "As soon as we are finished speaking with your dads, you'll both be sent back to class for the rest of the day, as well."

"Yes ma'am." Rachel said and Ava just nodded.

After a little more waiting, Shelby's phone rang and she picked up the receiver, making sure it was Hiram and Leroy before putting it on speaker. Pushing a button on the phone base, Shelby placed the phone in the cradle to allow the girls to hear what the Berry men had to say.

"Shelby, Hiram and I have decided to stay here in Africa to finish up the job."

"Okay." Shelby nodded.

"We called Rose and spoke with her, she has been thinking about moving to a Florida retirement home for the past few years and now that you are willing to take the girls in, she is going to head down south over the next few weeks. We'll have our lawyer contact you with the next steps to restore your parental rights and when we return to Lima, the three of us will sit down and discuss living and custody arrangements." Hiram continued.

"Thank you so much, you don't know how thrilled I am about this." Shelby smiled at the phone.

"No, thank you." Hiram said. "We know how the girls feel about this school being built and we would feel horribly disappointed if we let them down. Plus, this will give the three of you a chance to reconnect and get to know each other."

"Unfortunately, we need need to let you go so we can get ready for a dinner with some partners, who are helping with the build. Rose is expecting you either today or tomorrow to retrieve the girls' things and what not. If you need anything just give us a call."

"I will." Shelby replied. "Have a good evening."

"You too."

"Bye Daddies." The girls chimed in.

"Bye girls, we love you."

"Love you too."

After the phone was hung up, Shelby pulled out the hall passes that had been found and opened up a program on her computer to find out which classes the girls were suppose to be in now that the new class hour had started. Writing Rachel's pass first, Shelby handed her the slip.

"Here's your pass to Accounting." Shelby said, and glanced back to her computer. "And Ava, you are going to..."

"Shit." Ava whispered to herself. Ava had a different lunch from Rachel, Sam, and Puck and would sometimes hang out with them during their lunch and go to her French class late. Shelby stared at the computer, then narrowed her eyes at Ava, who chuckled nervously.

"So wait, you can access our classes?" Rachel asked, leaning forward a bit to see the screen.

"Yes, why?" Shelby wondered.

"Is there anyway you can change our schedules so that Ava and I have at least one class together?" Rachel begged.

"Uh, no." Shelby shook her head. "You're classes are staying the way they are." Shelby then glanced back over at Ava, who had hoped Shelby forgot about her not being in the right class earlier. "So Miss Ava, care to explain?"

"Funny story." Ava offered an innocent smile.

"One I am sure I won't find any humor in at all." Shelby said. "I strongly encourage you to attend all your classes on time, everyday unless given permission. That goes for both of you, do I make myself clear?"

"Very." Ava nodded rapidly.

"Good. Have a good rest of your day and come down here after you finish with glee." Shelby said, tossing the pass she was filling out for Ava in the trash, seeing as it was currently her real lunch hour. As she walked past the trash can, Shelby went to the door and unlocked it.

"Thanks, mom." Rachel lowered her voice at the last word.

The tears Shelby was holding in since being told she could take the girls, filled her eyes and Shelby closed the small distance between her and Rachel, giving the girl a hug. Rachel held on, soaking in Shelby's perfume and the way the mom was very gently rocking them back and forth. Rachel's own sniffles, separated the two and Shelby used her sleeve to dry Rachel's face.

"We'll work this out, okay?" Shelby assured Rachel, brushing the girl's new bangs from her face. Rachel nodded with a smile and leaned in for one last hug before heading off to her class.

"I'm not in trouble for the whole lunch thing, right? I mean technically I was going to go to my French class and the bell hadn't rung to signal it's start. I was still within the passing period and didn't go to French, only because you made me go down to your office." Ava said, plastering a cocky grin on her face. "And seeing as you didn't have permission to take over parental responsibility until after, I should be cleared of punishments by you."

"We're going on technicalities?" Shelby raised a brow. "Fine. I may have not technically been allowed to be your mother at the time of the event in question, however, I was your principal."

Ava's smug look faded and appeared on Shelby's face. "I think I am just gonna go to my class now."

"Mom: one, Twins: zero." Shelby smiled. Ava rolled her eyes and Shelby laughed, pulling Ava to her.


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright, everyone that's it for the day." Will called out after two hours of rehearsals. "Good work and tomorrow, be prepared to do a full run through. And don't forget to see Mrs. Lewis, the sewing teacher, during your lunch hours tomorrow to make sure your costumes have been fitted correctly."

"Oh yes, we need to make sure the elastic band in Ava's dress isn't too tight." Santana snickered, earning a glare from her best friend.

"At least my dress was fitted for extra growth. You should be worried that the bust your dress is too small considering the boob job you had during the summer." Ava shot back.

"Good one." Santana smirked.

"That's enough." Will said, trying not to laugh.

Santana helped Ava down the stairs and Rachel met them at the bottom with Ava's backpack and glee bag. The girls usually didn't change back into their school clothes after rehearsals unless they were going out with friends. Shelby had instructed the girls to meet her at her office following their release from glee and the two said goodbyes to their boyfriends, heading to the main office.

"What do you think about this? Living with Shelby?" Ava asked her sister.

"Being her daughters is what we've wanted." Rachel said. "She seems serious about everything. Why, do you think it's a bad idea?"

"No, I like that we're getting to start over with her. I really think this is it and it's going to work." Ava gave her opinion. "I know we have some unresolved issues in which we will all have to address sooner or later, however, Shelby came back and had every intention of reaching out to us. It's what we wanted and we're getting that chance, so we gotta grab the bull by it's horns and go for it."

"And it's just until Daddies come back. If things don't go the way we thought, we just have to deal with it for a few months."

"Right." Ava nodded.

They reached the main office and Rachel pushed open the door but came to a stop as she glanced through the windows of Shelby's office.

"There is one problem though." Rachel said.

"What's that?"

"Our mom is the principal of our school." Rachel said as the realization hit that days of getting away with things around McKinley was over.

"This so sucks." Ava replied, dropping her head on to Rachel's shoulder.

"Hey girls." Shelby greeted."Let me just grab my purse and coat, then we can head out."

She had seen the twins standing outside her office and got up to open her door. After speaking with the twins and the Berry men, Shelby's day was much much better than the first half had been. The rest of her office had been completely reorganized and was ready to be redecorated. Aside from the girls, Shelby's day had been fairly nice. Not many kids had been sent down to the office, and she had been welcomed with open arms by the entire faculty.

Logging off the computer, Shelby took her coat and purse off the hook that was hung on the wall behind the door. Slipping her arms into the jacket, she shouldered her purse and locked up her office, walking the girls out to the parking lot. Rachel got out her car keys from the small side pocket of her backpack, and unlocked the car doors.

"I'll follow you to Rose's house, your father wants you to leave the car there for your cousin, James, when he comes up from Florida to help with moving Rose."

"What? No car?" Ava said.

"Your fathers don't feel you'll need it and honestly, I agree." Shelby said. "If you guys want to hang out with friends or whatever, you can borrow my car or get rides."

"But dads said they were going to buy the car from Granny Rose for us." Rachel pouted. "It was going to be our birthday present."

"You'll have to take it up with your dads but for now it is staying at Rose's house like your dads asked." Shelby replied, not wanting to step on Hiram or Leroy's toes. They made up their minds about the car and that was the end of it. "

Shelby fixed her sunglasses to sit on her face and she walked over to her car. According to an email that Hiram had sent after his business dinner, Leroy's nephew had agreed to take Rose in while she got adjusted to Florida and would be arriving in Lima in a few weeks to help with the move. James didn't have a car and since Rose was going to need to attend doctors appointments and what not, he was going to need a way to get her around.

Rachel parked her car in the garage of Rose's house as she normally did. Getting out of the car, Rachel helped her mother navigate her way as she backed into the narrow driveway. She waited along with Ava for Shelby to get out so they could go inside together. Shelby stood by the front door as the girls greeted Rose and Emilia. In the rush to get packed and get to Shelby's, the girls didn't introduce Shelby to their Great Grandmother, leaving their mom standing awkwardly at the door.

"Are you just going to stand there, Shelby or are you gonna have a seat, love?" Rose said without turning her attention away from the TV.

"Uh, thanks." Shelby nervously replied and sat on the couch. Rose was sitting in the recliner to Shelby's right and Puck's Great grandmother, Emilia was on the couch just inches from her. "How are you two ladies?"

"Good and you?" Emilia replied, patting Shelby's knee.

"I'm great." Shelby smiled.

"I'm just glad you've seen that the girls do need you." Rose said, her eyes focused two feet away from where Shelby was.

"I am too and I am sure they are as well." Shelby replied.

"There are somethings you need to know about the girls." Rose said, catching Shelby's attention. "Rachel is vegan so make sure you have food on hand for her to eat. Ava gets ear infections really easily so when you go swimming be sure to have swimmer's ear drops to dry her ears, she needs to wear a winter hat when she goes out in the cold, and when she gets an infection, she'll play with her earrings but if you watch, she's actually rubbing her ear with her pinkie."

"Okay." Shelby said, beginning her mental check list.

"Oh, and Rachel has trouble sleeping sometimes, I think it has to do with the abnormal amount of energy she has. Which reminds me, watch her caffeine and sugar intake. Now, the girls fight a lot and the most effective punishment is to separate them because they can't stand it. When they are sad, give Rachel a glass of water and she'll feel better and want to talk. For Ava, make her a plate of spaghetti with mushrooms and meatballs. It has to have mushrooms and meatballs or you'll further make her sad."

"Mushrooms and meatballs and a glass of water." Shelby reminded herself out loud.

"As far as allergies go, you cannot use Downy at all. Rachel will breakout into a major rash. And both are allergic to bee stings but they do have epi pens that they are to carry with them at all times. If they ever need to use it, call 911 right away even if they look and feel better. This is very important as the pen could wear off."

"Alright."

"Rachel is organized and will freak if something is out of place. Ava on the other hand is messy and it's a pain to get her to clean anything. Both are good about doing their homework but as far as studying, Ava is again a challenge. She doesn't believe she needs to do anything outside of regular homework and doesn't need to study for tests but she does, particularly History. " Rose continued. "As far as switching places."

"They switch places?" Shelby asked.

"Not so much in the last year but don't put it past them." Rose answered. "Keep your guard up at all times, they are schemers."

Shelby gently shook her head, this is crazy. First, she would never mix up the girls and second, Shelby can out smart them, nothing gets past Shelby Corcoran. As the girls started bringing their things out, Shelby excused herself from the older women and began helping the twins. With the car packed, Shelby and the girls walked back into the house to say their goodbyes.

"Bye Granny. We'll miss you but come visit you." Rachel said, hugging and kissing Rose.

"You girls are welcome over here anytime, Shelby that includes you." Rose said.

"Thank you." Shelby smiled gratefully.

"Bye Granny." Ava said, hugging Rose.

"Bye sweetie, and don't forget to send pictures of my first great great grandbaby."

"I won't forget." Ava smiled.

"And girls." Rose said. "Remember, your Mama is in better shape than I am, remind those boyfriends of yours that it would be wise to not sneak into her house in the middle of the night."

Shelby smirked at the surprised looks on the girls' faces. It seems as if they weren't getting away with as much as they thought they were. Shelby thanked Rose once more and led the girls outside. The girls didn't have much and it all fit into the trunk and 2/3's of the back seat, leaving Ava very little wiggle room. Rachel had called shot gun and when protesting, Rachel declared the rules were against Ava and Shelby gave the girl a sympathetic smile and shrugged her shoulders, stating those were the rules and for her to get into the car so they could leave. The ride was a rather short one, about ten minutes, and Shelby parked in her assigned parking space. It was decided that they would wait to unpack the car as all three were super hungry. Shelby walked the twins to her one bedroom condo and unlocked the door, showing them who the real Shelby Corcoran was.

As Shelby spoke about where everything was located, from the bathroom the three would have to share to her bedroom, right down to where the extra blankets and pillows were stored. It was a small condo with no hallways, everything was connected to the livingroom, leaving no privacy or room. Neither girl was actually paying attention but were instead soaking in the family pictures that littered the livingroom walls. A question hung in the air and Shelby turned from her position in the open kitchen that was just feet away to see the girls moving from picture to picture pointing out little things and trying to figure out who all the people were.

Shelby stopped talking and stood behind the girls, reaching between them to point out family members or to tell a short story about whatever event or occasion was taking place. Rachel listened to each and every little detail Shelby shared and while listening to Shelby's story about her 15th birthday, she found herself leaning against Shelby. It wasn't until Shelby placed a firm, supportive hand on her back that she realized it. Shelby never missed a beat as she looked down and gave Rachel a smile.

"Where's the bathroom?" Ava asked before Shelby could start on another picture.

"Had you been listening earlier you would know it's the door right there." Shelby pointed to the right door, her bedroom being the left door.

"I was listening." Ava proclaimed and Shelby only rolled her eyes.

"So what would you like for dinner?" Shelby asked, walking over to the kitchen.

"Can we order something? Pizza or Chinese?" Rachel asked. She crossed the room to sit at the breakfast bar, the only place to sit in the kitchen and rested her chin in the palm of her hand.

"I'm not big on take out." Shelby replied. "You'd think since I live alone, that's all I'd eat but I prefer to cook meals."

"You can't make just one acceptation?" Rachel asked.

"Not tonight." Shelby replied, pulling out a few items from the fridge. "Tonight we are having a home cooked meal and you're going to help."

"Why me?" Rachel complained. "Why not Ava? She's the mom to be, shouldn't these be skills Ava should be doing?"

"What do I have to do with anything? Ava asked, coming out of the bathroom. "Last time I checked, it's not going to kill you to help cook."

"Stop." Shelby demanded. "You both are going to help cook, Rachel you just happened to be the only one in the room." Shelby placed some vegetables in front of Rachel, along with a knife and cutting board. "Ava, you're in charge of making the rice."

"Oh no, the prissy pregnant girl has to stand for more than five minutes." Rachel sarcastically gasped.

Ava turned around to make her comeback but Shelby held up a hand. "Enough or you will find yourselves having an early bedtime."

The rest of the time spent making dinner was silent, which Shelby didn't mind. The girls seemed to not be able to get along right now and starting conversations probably would just further cause drama between the two. Rachel finished cutting up the peppers, mushrooms, onions, and green onions, tossing them all into a bowl for Shelby. The mom had been trimming and cutting steak into small strips, dumping them into a different bowl. Carrying the cut up food to the stove, Shelby turned the burners on for two small frying pans, letting them heat up before frying up the veggies and meat. Ava finished the rice and pushed it to the back burner.

"Thank you." Shelby said, placing a hand on Ava's lower back.

"Yeah." Ava muttered and went to the livingroom to sit down.

Shelby glanced over her shoulder at the twins, then turned the fire down on the stove. Rachel watched her but didn't return the same smile Shelby gave her when she turned to face the twins. Their faces read that they weren't happy to be fighting with their sister but both were too stubborn to apologize. Shelby asked Ava to come sit next to Rachel and the girl did as asked.

"It's clear that both of you are feeling bad about fighting with one another and on the same token, neither one of you want to apologize. It's a big change that we've made and it's gonna take some time for us to adjust but fighting and yelling isn't going to make it any easier. Maybe you two aren't really mad at each other but with me and you feel you can't take it out on me. so you're going for each other?"

"No offense but you've been a mom for like what? Four hours? We fight. It's what we do and we will figure it out ourselves." Rachel said.

"Why are you being mean to her?" Ava asked. "She's trying, so whatever your issue is, you figure it out."

"Whatever." Rachel said, getting off the stool and moving to the door. She slipped on her tennis shoes and opened the door. "I'll be back."

"Rachel Barbra Berry, do not walk out that-" Shelby started but it was too late, Rachel slammed the door shut. She sighed and went to go after Rachel but Ava stopped her.

"Mind if I go instead?"

"You sure?" Shelby asked.

"Yeah."

"Alright." Shelby agreed, letting Ava go.

Ava walked out of the house without shoes or a jacket on to cover her bare arms, as she had taken off her sweater when she got up to cook the rice. She stood by the closed door of Shelby's condo, looking around, trying to figure out which way Rachel could have gone. Spotting a small park across the parking lot, she noticed a small figure sitting on one of the swings. She sat on the swing next to Rachel and used her toes to push against the cold sand to rock her seing back and forth.

"The sunset is pretty." Ava said, breaking the silence.

"You came out here to talk about the stupid sunset?"

"No. I came out here to talk to you." Ava said, looking at her twin. "I know why you're mad."

"How?"

"I'm your twin. You know we share this weird connection."

"How can she just come back and want to be our mom when five months ago, she wanted to go off and have her own family without us? How come we're good enough now?" Rachel asked. "It frustrated me that she's wanting to pretend we're some happy little family."

"Well you can't expect her to spend every waking moment apologizing for what she did. I don't know why she changed her mind but instead of getting mad at her or me, talk to her. At some point she's going to have to explain herself." Ava advised. "Mom was right, it's already going to be hard to deal with this all but if you pick fights, it's not going to get us anywhere."

"Was she mad that I left?" Rachel asked.

"Not pissed but I'm sure she's not happy about it." Ava answered. "You ready to go back? I'm sure dinner is about done and I am starving."

"Yeah." Rachel nodded and stood up.

"Okay but you have to help me up." Ava chuckled, needing Rachel to hold the swing so she could get to her own feet.

As they walked back to the house, Ava rubbed her feet into the grass to get rid of the sand to not drag it through the house. Rachel linked her hand in Ava's and they stopped just short of the door to give each other a hug.

"I'm sorry for being rude towards you."

"Don't worry about it." Ava softly said. "I'm sure I've been worse to you at times."

"More often than not." Rachel joked, earning her a light smack on the arm from Ava.

They pulled away when they heard Shelby opening the door.

"Girls, it's time to eat."

She stepped back a bit more to let the girls inside. Rachel kept her head down, avoiding Shelby's eyes. Rachel slipped her shoes off and went over to the breakfast bar to sit down and eat. Ava cleaned her feet off one last time and entered the house.

"Ava! What on earth were you thinking? Where are your shoes?" Shelby exclaimed.

"Right here." Ava pointed to the shoes just inches from Shelby.

"Why weren't they on your feet? It's cold out there?"

"It's not that bad out and I wasn't out there long." Ava shrugged.

"Next time I expect you to put some shoes on before you leave this house." Shelby firmly said as the pair walked to sit by Rachel. "And as soon as the car is unpacked I'd like for you two to find your jackets and hang them up in the front closet. It's getting colder out in the mornings."

"We don't use jackets." Ava shrugged. "We usually use sweatshirts and sweaters with our hats and gloves."

"Neither one of you have jackets?" Shelby asked.

"No." The twins replied.

"Then tomorrow after glee, we are going to the store to get you each one."

"It's not a big deal, we're not going to use them anyway." Rachel said.

"Perhaps you heard me wrong. We are going to the store and getting you jackets, that you will wear every morning until spring, which then you will be allowed to get away with wearing sweaters and sweatshirts unless I tell you otherwise."

"Seriously?" Ava raised her brow. "I think we're old enough to figure out if we need a jacket or not."

"Yet you are young enough that you still have to listen to your mother and fathers. You may be turning 17 in a month but until you're 18, you follow our rules."

"I'm afraid to ask what the other rules are." Rachel muttered.

"Well first, your bedtime is 9:30." Shelby said, fixing Rachel a plate of food. Sliding the foam plate in the girl's direction, she saw the look of protest on her face and raised her brow. "Is there a problem?"

"Uh, yeah!" Rachel proclaimed. "That's too early of a bedtime."

"And to see as a proper time?" Shelby asked, making her and Ava a plate of food, this time adding meat to theirs.

"Midnight." Ava said. "It's the bedtime our Granny gave us."

"I highly doubt that." Shelby scoffed. "You may not like it but there is no way I am allowing you to stay up that late."

"Even on weekends and during breaks from school?" Ava gasped.

"Look, I am willing to negotiate a decent bedtime and am more than willing to extend the hours for non-school nights but let's be reasonable about this."

"Fine. 11pm."

"Try again, Rachel." Shelby shook her head. "10:30 and that means phones and computers and TVs go off at 9:30."

"I thought we were negotiating?" Ava responded.

"I said coming up with a reasonable time and 10:30 is a reasonable time." Shelby stated, ending the entire thing.

The girls accepted their loss and began to eat. Shelby sat on the end of the breakfast bar with Rachel in the middle, watching how the twins interacted without muttering a single word. Rachel reached forward and grabbed the pepper shaker, handing it to Ava. The pregnant teen, took the soy sauce bottle that Shelby had just finished using and gave it to Rachel. A napkin was passed in Ava's direction and Ava poured Rachel a glass of lemonade from the pitcher Shelby brought out from the fridge. Rachel held out her hand and Ava reached in front of Shelby and grabbed the small bottle of hot sauce, giving it to Rachel.

"How do you two do that?" Shelby asked. The girls turned their heads to the right, looking directly at Shelby in a synchronized manor. Shelby was quite taken back by this action and rapidly blinked several times. "That was weird."

"What?" They asked.

"This twin thing you two got going on." Shelby replied. "The way you know what the other wants without a word and how you two say the same thing at the same time."

"It's just normal for us." Ava said, shoveling some food into her mouth. "We can sense things between each other that others can't"

"Can you tell when the other is hurt?"

"Sometimes." Ava nodded. "Like two years ago we went to this Performing Arts Camp over the summer. We were in different cabins and I woke up in the middle of the night, knowing Rachel had a headache. Sure enough the next morning at breakfast, Rachel said she'd been up most of the night with a pounding headache."

"And then there was this time in fifth grade, we had different gym classes. Ava got hit in the nose with a basketball and got a bloody nose. My nose started bleeding and I got sent down to the nurse's office at the exact same time Ava was going down there too."

"That's amazing." Shelby replied.

Dinner continued going smoothly and Shelby enjoyed listening to the stories the twins shared. They got to know each other a little more, soaking up the information that was offered. When they finished eating, Shelby began putting away the leftovers and had Ava clear off the bar counter, leaving Rachel to do the dishes for leaving the house without proper permission.

"If it happens again, you will be grounded for a week. That means school, glee, then home, along with no phone or computer when you come home. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am." Rachel nodded her head.

"Good." Shelby stated, proud of herself for being able to handle the parenting role so far. "Ava, I'd like you to put on some shoes and grab one of my spare jackets in the closet and help me unpack the car. Rachel, when you are done get your shoes and one of my other coats on and help."

Ava slipped on her shoes and slid the closet door open, picking out one of the jackets Shelby had hanging up. Shelby followed Ava out to the car and they began unloading the car. Rachel finished the dishes quickly as she only had a few pieces of silverware, three pots and pans, and three cups. With the three of them working hard, the car was managed to be emptied quicker than it was filled. For the time being, everything was stacked in the livingroom.

Shelby and the girls sat down on the couch and began to watch a movie. With a half hour left, suddenly the television was turned off by Shelby. Two heads snapped in the direction of their mother and were about to complain but Shelby wouldn't allow it, pointing to the clock on the DVR. Both girls groaned but got to their feet. Shelby had let them watch the movie up until 10:20pm, giving them a reprieve from the original rules of having to turn the TV off by 9:30. Even when this was pointed out, they still weren't happy that they couldn't finish the movie.

"Get your pajamas on, brush your teeth, and wash your faces. I'll be right out to say goodnight." Shelby said, going into her own bedroom.

Typically she stayed up until 11:30 or Midnight but she was tired. Changed and ready for bed, Shelby went into the livingroom and transformed the couch into a pull out bed, getting the extra sheets and blankets from the linen closet near the bathroom door. Ava was the first one out of the bathroom, having won the war of who would get to use the bathroom first by a game of rock, paper, scissors. Shelby peeled back one of the two comforters and waited for Ava to get under the covers.

"I know you're probably too old to be tucked in but give me this one time." Shelby half jokingly giggled.

"Actually, I like it." Ava smiled, laying down. She let out a long yawn and Shelby smoothed back her hair from her face. "Goodnight, Mom."

"Night sweetheart." After a second thought, Shelby bent down and kissed Ava's forehead. "See you in the morning."

"Okay." Ava replied, turning on her side to face where Rachel would be sleeping.

Shelby heard the water still running in the bathroom and went back in her room to wait for Rachel. It was about ten minutes later that Rachel emerged from the bathroom and saw the light still on in Shelby's room. The door opened seconds later and Shelby walked over to where Rachel was sitting on the edge of the bed. She pulled back the covers and Shelby took them from her to tuck her in too.

"Goodnight, Rach." Shelby said, giving her a kiss on the head too.

"Night mom." Rachel said. "Thanks for everything.

"You're welcome." Shelby said, cupping Rachel's cheek. "Sweet dreams."

Shelby retreated to her room and climbed into bed. She was tired but wasn't ready to fall asleep just yet. For another hour she watched some reruns of The Nanny and watched forty five minutes of Little House on the Prairie. Her eyes were drying and getting heavy and Shelby knew she couldn't stay awake for the last 15 minutes of the show. Turning off the TV, Shelby moved to lay down. Shelby had left the door cracked a little bit and turned off the lights but now that the TV was off, it was pitch black. As she got comfortable, she heard some talking from the next room. She sighed and hoped the girls would go to bed but minutes later, they were still talking. Getting out of bed, Shelby stumbled to the door and her eyes burned from the light on above the stove she had left on in case either girl had gotten up in the middle of the night.

"I don't know booger, I just don't understand it. She wanted us, then didn't want us, and now wants us again. I guess I am worried that she'll hurt us again. She seems to be true to her word that things were going to be different this time. Your mommy is worried too, she hasn't been exactly honest that that's how she feels but I can just tell. It's mostly her worrying about doing the same to you but your mommy would never hurt you like that. I promise. you'll always have me and your mom and daddy. Grandma too but definitely me and your parents."

Shelby smiled slightly as she watched Rachel speaking to Ava's belly, something the girl did when she couldn't sleep. She'd sometimes stay up for hours, talking to Ava's belly, until she got too tired to form coherent sentences, then she'd be able to sleep for a few hours.

"I should probably get some sleep before I wake up your mom or grandma, the latter of whom I am more afraid of. You should have seen the look she was giving me when she was lecturing me about leaving the house without her permission. Scary stuff. Anyway, goodnight Booger. I love you." Rachel kissed Ava's belly and pulled down her shirt and pulled up the blanket.

Shelby turned back into her room and got into bed. A few seconds later, she chuckled out loud.

"Silly girl, that was not a lecture." Shelby said to the darkness.

The next morning, Shelby woke up to get ready for work and slipped her feet into the slippers at the side of her bed. She padded out into the livingroom, quietly trying to make it into the kitchen without waking either girl, seeing as they could sleep for another hour and a half before they needed to get up and get ready. As she headed back to the bedroom to pick out an outfit for the day, Shelby noticed half the bed was empty. Rachel had been up for the last forty five minutes, having gone for a 30 minute run and now was getting out of the shower.

Wrapping a towel around her body, Rachel groaned at forgetting her clothes on the bed in the livingroom. She opened the door and found Shelby sitting at the breakfast bar with a cup of coffee.

"What are you doing up this early?" Shelby asked, getting up with the hot mug in her hands.

"I'm usually up early in the morning. Not 4:15, early but I couldn't really sleep last night. After getting up at 4:00, I decided to just get up for good." Rachel shrugged, grabbing her clothes.

"Oh, well why don't you go get dressed and then come to my room so we can talk." Shelby said, walking to her bedroom.

"It's really nothing. Sometimes I just can't seem to fall asleep or stay asleep." Rachel brushed her off.

"I though we'd talk about something else, that I think we need to discuss." Rachel tilted her head and Shelby decided to give her a bit more information. "I want to talk to you about your concern about why I changed my mind about us being grateful from afar."

"A-alright." Rachel replied and once Shelby was in her room, she went into the bathroom and slowly started getting dressed.

* * *

**A/N: Finn and Quinn kept Beth. **

**Thanks for reading and for the great reviews so far. :)  
**

**It is now 4:00am and my eyes are dry as hell. Suppose I will get some sleep and hopefully wake up to more reviews. *Crosses Fingers*  
**

**Good Night/Morning LOL!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

Shelby was picking out a pair of shoes to match her black pants, purple blouse, and black blazer, when Rachel walked into her room. She hadn't taken a shower yet and had plenty of time before Ava needed to be up to take one. She watched from her spot in the walk in closet as Rachel took a glimpse around the room, but tried not to make it look like she was staring hard at Rachel. Soaking in her mother's personal space, Rachel walked to the end of the bed and sat on the padded bench, carefully scooting over the piles of clothes Shelby had been avoiding putting away for a week now. Shelby decided upon a pair of black pumps, her favorite shoe. Though she loved to be barefoot, she also appreciated a pair of sexy heels. Setting them on the floor next to comfy and plush chair in the corner of the room, where she had draped her outfit of the day, Shelby moved to sit on the bed behind Rachel, who turned to face her mom.

"You see these movies and television shows, where after years of being apart, moms and daughters just fall into the natural role and go on living life as if they'd never been apart. I thought that's the way we'd be. Then in the Carmel auditorium, the way you spoke and carried yourself made me feel as if I wasn't talking to a 16 year old but to someone much older and mature. You and Ava were little adults to me and it made me realize that it wasn't right for me to barge my way into your lives. Your dads have done a phenomenal job in raising you two and there was no need for me to step in and help raise you. You were adults and didn't need a mom."

"But we're not adults. We're sixteen."

"I know." Shelby nodded. "I know that now."

"Our dads just raised us a little differently than most parents." Rachel said. "We didn't play with kids our own age when we were younger, for the most part we spent time with our dads. We've attended hundreds of business dinner parties, where we couldn't run around and scream. We had to act like mini business women. Ava and I have been allowed to have two glasses of wine at holiday and Sunday dinners since we were ten. By twelve, I could conduct the stages of tasting wine and know what to look for in a good quality wine."

"They let you drink?" Shelby asked.

"Responsibly." Rachel added. "They taught us to be responsible, well besides the little slip up that led to the conception of Baby Berry-Evans out there. What I am trying to say is that we've been treated and raised like little adults. While it may not have been the best parenting, it worked. However, just because parts of us act like mature adults, we are still sixteen and living in the world of peer pressure."

"And I know that now. It took some time for me to see it but I do." Shelby said.

Neither one was getting defensive but Rachel's voice was beginning to become that way. It wasn't because she felt like Shelby was offending her or making her dads look bad. This was a topic that was sensitive to Rachel as not being around kids her age for most of her life, aside from summer camps and occasional things like that, made it hard for her to fit in with others.

"Did you know that up until Freshman year, Ava and I did homeschooling either in a private jet or the back of a limo or town car? Yeah. Daddies were going around the country doing charity work for their company and we'd tag along. Finally when we were going to start high school, we begged them to let us go to school. They agreed and decided it was best for us to start going to regular school. Do you know how hard it was for us to adjust? we're still trying to figure out how to basically be sixteen and not thirty six. This is why we need you." Rachel said. "We needed at least one parent, who would give us a normal life."

"Rachel, if I had known-"

"-They weren't bad parents. They both came from wealthy families and were raised the same way they raised us, it was normal for them. We love them and they love us."

"I don't doubt that, don't ever think think that." Shelby said, placing a hand on Rachel's knee. "I know you all love each other very much but had I understood that you were still very much children underneath the adult facade, I wouldn't have said I can't be your mom." Shelby cleared her throat, readying herself to tell Rachel her side. "I've wanted to be a mom since I was very little. When I gave you two up, I thought I was doing a great thing. It was a great thing I was doing for a couple who couldn't have their own baby. I understood I was going to go through different emotions, bouncing back and forth between regret and being okay with my choice. I figured I'd do Broadway for several years, meet an amazing man, settle down and get married. Do a little more Broadway, then retire to start a family. I didn't even do one show. After two years of rejection, I gave up and started giving vocal lessons and bartending to get by. Then I got sick, the doctors said they'd have to do surgery, leaving me unable to have children of my own."

"Oh, mom." Rachel whispered.

"I felt broken down. I felt talentless and like I would never find love. I mean, what guy would want a girl who couldn't have kids? Anyway, when I saw you and Ava performing at Sectionals I was blown away. Ava was a ball of energy, having so much fun but you, you were me. The passion was dancing in your eyes and I could feel the determination just radiating off of you. Then we met and I didn't want to mess with what you had."

"What changed your mind?"

"I started going through the proceedings of adoption, in the paperwork there's this section where you have to describe your ideal child, I realized what I was looking for had been right in front of me all along." Shelby said, tucking a chunk of hair behind Rachel's ear. "You and your sister are the children I want and I refuse to let anything keep us apart anymore. I'm your mom, Rachel and that's the way it's going to be forever."

Rachel got on her knees and crawled to Shelby, closing the small distance between them and wrapped her arms around Shelby's neck.

"I feel a lot better now." Rachel said in Shelby's ear.

"Good. I'm glad." Shelby replied and the two held their embrace for a few more seconds, until Shelby sat back. "Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

"No." Rachel shook her head. She would have told Shelby that she normally didn't eat in the mornings but she already knew what Shelby's reply would be and kept her mouth shut.

"Alright, let's go and I'll make you something." Shelby stood up and got Rachel to her feet, holding her hand as they walked out to the kitchen. "And please don't say anything to Ava about our conversation, I'd prefer to speak to her on my own."

Rachel nodded.

She sat Rachel down at the breakfast bar and moved around to the other side to cook. Pouring her and Rachel a cup of orange juice, she leaned against the counter across from Rachel as she waited for the pan to heat up. There was left over vegetables from the night before and Shelby planned to make Rachel a vegan friendly breakfast burrito.

"Do your parents live around here?" Rachel asked, glancing at one of the many pictures. This one was of Shelby's parents on one of their anniversaries.

"They're about an hour and twenty minutes away in Greenville." Shelby answered as she began pouring the vegetables in the pan. "I suppose they'll want to come and visit when I call them today. I will try to hold them off from coming for a week or two but any longer than that and your grandparents will just show up without warning."

"Are you sure they're going to want to meet us?" Rachel asked and Shelby turned her head, giving Rachel a look telling her she shouldn't be worried. "Stupid question?"

"Very stupid." Shelby replied with a playful laugh. "Honey, my mother and father are going to be thrilled."

"If you say so."

"Rachel." Shelby said, turning off the burner and stepped over to the counter by Rachel. "It will be fine."

"If you say so." Rachel repeated, unable to keep her smile hidden.

"Brat." Shelby grabbed a towel off the counter and tossed it in Rachel's face.

Rachel pouted and dropped the towel on the counter, waiting for Shelby to finish making her breakfast. Shelby slid the plate to Rachel and got her some salsa from the fridge. Rachel began to eat after thanking Shelby, who replied nodded and went to go take a shower. Leaning to look over the couch, Shelby grinned at Ava. At some point after Rachel got out of bed, Ava had sprawled out, taking up the entire bed. Her legs were spread out, along with her right arm. Her left arm was draped over her eyes and the blankets were tangled around her legs, some had been kicked off the bed with a pillow or two.

"God she moves around a lot." Shelby muttered, sitting on the edge of the bed and feeling bad that Rachel had to deal with that at night. "Rach, I am going to take a shower."

"Okay." Rachel replied with a mouth full of food.

An hour later, Shelby came out of her bedroom with her heels in her hands and dropped them at the front door. Rachel had finished her breakfast and cleaned up her plate, stacking her dishes on the counter and was now sitting on a small portion of the bed with some homework in her lap.

"Rachel Barbra, that better not be homework you are working on." Shelby said, her hands on her hip.

"Extra credit." Rachel replied, holding up the sheet for Shelby to see.

"You're lucky." Shelby sat down on the bed and began to wake up Ava. "Come on, you gotta get up."

"Three more hours?" Ava begged, rolling on her hip, her back facing Shelby.

"More like three minutes." Shelby said, patting Ava's hip. "Rachel, if she's falls back asleep wake her up."

"By any means necessary?" Rachel asked, giving her mother a crooked smile.

"Yeah, sure." Shelby replied, not exactly giving it a lot of thought as she got off the bed."I have to run the garbage to the dumpster so I'll be back in a few."

"Sounds great." Rachel replied, giving Ava's sleeping form a look with trouble written all over it.

She wasted no time after Shelby left to get off the couch. Using the towel Shelby had thrown in her face, Rachel got it wet with warm water and squeezed a little bit of the extra water out. Ava was quick to fall asleep and Rachel could see just by the way she was laying, Ava was truly asleep. balling the hand towel in one hand, Rachel used the other to carefully push one of Ava's legs to the side. After using the towel to wet the front of Ava's pajama pants and a small spot on the light blue sheet of the mattress of the pull out, Rachel ran to the bathroom and tossed the towel in the hamper.

Shelby returned to the condo, finding Ava still sleeping and Rachel touching up her hair in the bathroom. Sighing and sitting on the bed, Shelby placed her hand on the mattress to push herself closer to Ava and grimaced when she felt the warm wet spot beneath her hand. She lifted her hand up and glanced at Ava, noticing her pants were wet too.

"Oh dear." Shelby blushed with embarrassment for her daughter. She covered Ava's lower body up with the blanket on the floor and nudged her awake. "It's time to get up now. Let's go, Ava."

"Fine." Ava groaned, dragging out the word longer than she needed too.

She stretched out her legs and arms, retracting them when something felt wrong. Her hand reached down and pulled back the blanket.

"Damn it."

_Not again. Not in front of Shelby. _Ava thought as she covered her eyes with her hands.

"Don't worry baby, I'll help you get cleaned up. Just stay right here." Shelby covered Ava up once again, then got up and went up to Rachel. "Hey could you go out to the car and see if I left my phone charger out there?"

"Sure." Rachel nodded and grabbed the keys from the hook by the door and went outside.

Shelby rushed Ava into the bathroom, grabbing her a towel on the way. Rachel returned to the house, placing the keys on the hook and kicking off her shoes. Shelby was taking the sheets off the bed, wiping the plastic mattress cover with a dry towel and then folded the bed back into the sofa. Rachel helped replace the cushions and the decorative pillows.

"No luck with the charger?" Shelby asked, knowing exactly where the charger was.

"Nope."

"Hmm. It must be at the office then." Rachel started folding the blankets but Shelby stopped her from folding the blanket that had been used to cover Ava. "I need to wash that."

"Why?"

"Just because." Shelby shrugged.

"She peed herself again?" Rachel asked, snickering.

"You know?"

"Sorta."

"Sorta?" Shelby asked, turning her head to look at Rachel, instantly seeing something was up. "Rachel? What did you do?"

"Nothing." Rachel's hands shot up. "It's a harmless prank."

"What harmless prank?"

"Oh, you know." Rachel lightly shrugged, packing up her school bag. "The old make someone think they peed themselves trick."

"You didn't." Shelby said, drawing her hands to her hips.

"Okay. I didn't." Rachel grinned but stopped when she saw that Shelby was not amused. She dropped her bag and backed away, seeing Shelby advancing on her. "It was just a joke. I did it once and I didn't think it would work but it was hilarious. I've only done it a few times." She gulped as she felt her back crash against the cool wall behind her, Shelby hovered just a few inches above her.

"While I find the prank to be very clever and had Ava not been close to tears, I might find it funny but if it happens again, you'll be the one in tears and it won't be from laughter." Shelby narrowed her eyes. "Go finish packing up your things." Shelby backed off Rachel just slightly and Rachel side stepped her mom, watching Shelby's hands carefully. "Be afraid. Be very afraid."

"You know, if you're going to be quoting bad horror films from the 80's, at least use something with some sort of repertoire." Rachel replied. "Might I suggest Nightmare on Elm Street?" Rachel bent down and picked up her bag, continuing in packing it up. Ava had finished her shower and exited the bathroom, only in a towel, to find something to wear for the day."At least Freddy Krueger had charisma."

"One. Two. Shelby's coming for you." Ava creepily said. "Three. Four. Better lock the door."

Rachel shuddered and looked up at Shelby. "See! It strikes instant fear."

"Okay." Shelby rolled her eyes. "We need to get moving, Ava get some clothes and come get some breakfast."

The trio made it to school on time, with less than five minutes to spare. Shelby wasn't sure what happened but she had lost track of time while they talked as Ava ate breakfast. She got to know a little more about Puck and Sam and their relationships with her daughters. It wasn't until Rachel brought of the topic of the conception of Ava's baby that Ava pointed out they were running late. Shelby nearly threw the girls into the car and sped most of the way to McKinley.

"Ava! Don't forget-"

"-I know mom!" Ava yelled down the hallway at Shelby. "Your office. Lunch. Got it."

"Good girl!" Shelby replied, earning an embarrassed look from Ava as some kids laughed at her. "Sorry, Baby."

"Mooooom!" Ava whined out of desperation. "Go to your office!"

Ava spent the afternoon hearing people make 'Mommy' comments and laughing at her for Shelby's morning reminder for their lunch together. When lunch did roll around, Ava quickly went through the lunch line and hurried up to Shelby's office to hide out for at least forty-five minutes. Puck was sitting in Shelby's office and walked out ten minutes later with a pink detention slip in his hand.

"You just don't waste anytime showing your girlfriend's mother you're a troublemaker, do you?" Ava asked, moving closer to the open office door.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, I've been framed. Someone else caused the printer to break so they didn't have to take the Science test today."

"So, someone else framed you?" Ava tilted her head. Puck nodded. "Then that makes the person who framed you, the biggest badass at McKinley, not you."

Puck opened his mouth to say something but closed it and walked away, mumbling something that Ava couldn't make out. A smug smile crossed Ava's face and she entered Shelby's office, closing the door. The two chatted for a few minutes before getting into the talk Shelby really wanted have with Ava and much to Shelby's relief, Ava took it very well. Or at least she seemed too. Once Shelby reached the point in her story of when she changed her mind during the adoption process, Ava started crying but got out of her seat and stood with her back facing Shelby.

It took Shelby by surprise and she was suddenly unsure of what she was suppose to do. She knew she needed to comfort Ava but without knowing what was wrong, how was she suppose to do that? Shelby began thinking back to her teen years and how her mom comforted her when she was sad. Rose had suggested spaghetti but she wasn't exactly able to prepare the meal in this moment. Shelby wasn't much of a crier as a child, she was more of a yeller. She still was that way but over the years had learned to control her yelling and anger.

The bell rang and Ava needed to get to her last class of the day, though it was only study hall. She quickly wiped her face and turned around to grab her backpack, avoiding any eye contact with Shelby. Ava's slim fingers wrapped around the door handle but she was unable to open it as Shelby had nearly jumped across her desk to hold the door shut. Ava knew she wasn't going anywhere and dropped her hand from the handle and kept her sight on the solid wood door.

"I know it hurts knowing that I almost replaced you and your sister with another child. I made a mistake leaving you, thinking it was too late and I needed to adopt a child to be a mom. I am sorry and will be sorry the rest of my life." Shelby paused to see if Ava had anything to say. Ava had yet to move even an inch but did open her mouth to say something and Shelby gave her the time she needed to form her words.

"If y-y-you. I-If you" Ava stumbled, scared to finish.

"If I, what?" Shelby softly asked. Ava didn't finish the sentence, so Shelby placed her hands on her shoulders and turned Ava to face her but Ava still kept her head facing the door. Shelby placed her hand under the girl's chin, making Ava's head look at her but Ava's eyes still refused to look her in the eyes. "Look at me." It wasn't a harsh demand, but one that Ava followed. Chocolate, watery eyes stared into green ones. "If I, what?

"What if you hadn't changed your mind and gone through with the adoption?" Ava's eyes dropped to the floor. "You would have had a new kid and wouldn't have wanted us. You would have forgotten about us."

"No." Shelby softly said, shaking her head. "No, baby."

"Yes, you would have."

"Ava, in over 16 years, not a day has gone by where I didn't think about you and Rachel." Shelby said, leaning forward to capture Ava's attention. "Never would I ever forget about you."

Ava's body crashed into Shelby, causing the woman to let out a grunt. Ava held on to Shelby and Shelby rubbed circles over Ava's back. As soon as Ava calmed down enough, Shelby took a hold of her wrist and walked her to her desk. Yanking a few tissues from the small box, Shelby cleaned up Ava's face and kissed her on the forehead, then moved to grab her stack of hall passes just in case Ava needed to stop at her locker on her way to study hall. Crying usually left Ava thirsty and she reached over for Shelby's open bottle of Diet Coke and took several gulps.

"Thanks, Mom." Ava smiled, taking the pass from Shelby.

"Anytime." Shelby touched Ava's cheek for a moment before sending her on her way. She returned to her desk after Ava was long gone and reached for her bottle of Coke, sighing when she found it empty. "And so it begins."

Glee ended shortly after Six that night and Shelby pulled up along the front of the school and honked the horn once to get the twins' attention. Kurt and Mercedes were planning to go see a movie, they had asked Ava and Rachel but they said no, knowing Shelby was wanting to take them shopping for jackets. They agreed to hang out with their friends another time and walked to get into Shelby's car. Ava called shot gun this time and climbed up front. Shelby was glad that Ava was back in a decent mood and wasn't upset anymore.

"Alright." Shelby said. They were out of the car and walking up to the store. "Pick out whatever jacket you want, as long as it's under $60."

"Sixty dollars?!" Rachel exclaimed. Sure her dads gave her that much for a trip to the mall with her friends but this was Shelby. The money she got from her dads either came from her allowance or with the promise of cleaning something.

"That's a lot of money." Ava said. "What chores do we have to do in return?"

"You don't." Shelby said, tucking her phone into her purse. Rachel and Ava gave her a sideways look when she glanced their way. "What?"

"We can't accept the money without returning the favor by working it off." Rachel replied.

Shelby came to a stop in the middle of the parking lot and moved them off to the side when a car drove by.

"What are you talking about?" Shelby asked.

"Our fathers have instilled in us the value of a dollar and that not everything in life is free." Rachel answered. "Aside from Birthdays, Christmas, and other holidays where it is a tradition to exchange or give presents, we are expected to work for our money. We've been given a steady allowance, which we receive every Sunday if our chores were finished. If we need more money, it's either borrowed against the following week's allowance or we have to do cleaning that is outside our given chores."

"Okay." Shelby said. It wasn't a bad lesson for the girls to learn and Shelby was actually pleased to know there were at least some children who didn't think everything was suppose to be handed out to them on a silver platter. Of course most of the students she taught at Carmel believed just that. "However, I'm not offering the money or giving it to you to spend on frivolous items. We're here to buy coats and other items needed to keep you warm."

"It's still a lot of money for you to give us without us-"

"It's my job as your mom to make sure you're supplied with these necessities." Shelby cut Ava off. "Now let's get into the store before you two catch colds from being out in the chill without jackets."

Inside the store, Shelby browsed the racks as the girls searched for jackets. Within minutes, Ava walked over to Shelby, holding a black double breasted peacoat that had a belt around the middle. Shelby had Ava put it on, getting an eye roll in return from the girl. Shelby helped her button the coat up and tied the belt at the top of Ava's belly. A few tugs and Shelby decided it would give Ava a little room to grow.

"Do you like it?" Shelby asked as Ava admired herself in the mirror.

"I love it." Ava smiled at her mom through the mirror. The price tag caught Ava's attention and she held it in her hand. "It's $55.99."

"Well under budget." Shelby said, helping Ava take it off while they did the rest of their shopping. Ava placed the jacket in her mother's arms and walked back towards the jackets. "Where are you going?"

"To find something cheaper." Ava said, standing at a rack of clearance coats that Rachel was also going through. She kicked herself for not starting in the clearance section like Rachel.

"But you love this one." Shelby said.

"I know but I am sure I can find one cheaper."

"Here's one for thirty." Rachel said, passing a coat, much like the one Shelby was holding, to Ava. "I mean it's missing a button or two but still."

"Girls, stop." Shelby sighed. She had figured long ago that coat shopping wasn't going to be easy, though she thought it would be them arguing they didn't need to get a jacket and not over money. "I don't want you to worry over money. You're not required to work this off. I want you two to step away from the clearance rack and come over here to find decent jackets to get you through to spring."

After more coaxing from Shelby, Ava agreed to get the coat she had picked out earlier. Rachel, with help from Shelby, found a faux leather bomber jacket that matched Puck's coat, only her's had a lined hood. Shelby, glad that the money/jacket fiasco was over, led the girls over to the hats, scarves, and gloves. Each picked out a set of mittens that matched, except Rachel's were black to match the brown of her coat and Ava's were white. Hats and scarves were tossed into the cart, no protest or discussion was needed.

Shelby pushed the cart over to the woman's section to find some more outfits for work and now that she had the girls, Shelby wanted to start dressing down a bit more. Only owning two pairs of jeans and a few causal tops, Shelby figured she'd need more clothes for just hanging around or going on shopping trips like this. Rachel and Ava were allowed to walk around on their own, as long as they had their phones on and where they could hear when Shelby called to say she was ready to leave.

Rachel stood between two racks of sweaters, opening her wallet and counting the money she had. Over the summer, Puck had started a job cleaning pools around the neighborhood and Rachel helped him, earning decent money. Because she was also getting allowance from her dads for doing chores at Rose's house, Rachel saved up all of her summer cash, starting her fund for when she moved to New York. Hiram and Leroy said they'd chip in a thousand dollars but Rachel had to get a job and earn the rest herself. She wasn't allowed to get a job until she was seventeen though.

She had over four hundred dollars in her purse and she really wanted the sweater before her. It was black with a pink penguin on the front, it would be perfect for her collection. Deciding she'd only spend a hundred dollars, Rachel replaced her wallet in her purse and grabbed the sweater. Rachel had a small armful of clothes and walked around the store to find her sister.

Ava had left Rachel's side to walk around the baby and maternity section. She still had about forty dollars left from the money she earned over the summer, baby-sitting and had picked out a long sleeved maternity shirt but had more picked out for the baby. Rachel stood next to Ava and watched the girl try to decide which pacifiers to buy.

"Those are the ones the parenting magazine said the hospitals give out." Rachel pointed out, trying to help her. "The Soothie ones."

"Oh, right." Ava said, gratefully smiling at her sister. "Thanks."

"I'm gonna go see if Mom is ready." Rachel said, taking the shirt from her sister. "My treat."

Ava nodded a smile to Rachel and the two began walking around, finding Shelby in the shoe aisle. She needed a good pair of flats, besides her tennis shoes and had found three pairs so far. She had looked at boots but decided to get them later on when she took the girls shopping to find warm boots for the snow and since it wasn't snowing yet, Shelby was going to wait awhile.

"Hey guys, what did you find?" Shelby asked, placing the third pair of flats in the cart.

"Just some sweaters, a skirt, and a pair of knee socks." Rachel shrugged. "Plus, I'm buying a shirt for Ava."

"And I have some things for the baby. Pacifiers, a green blanket, and a package of onesies. They're white and green, I figured either a boy or girl could wear them." Ava said.

"Wonderful, let's go check out then." Shelby said, ushering the girls in the direction of the checkout counters. "Put your things up here."

"We can buy them." Rachel said, stepping back. "We've got money."

"Oh, okay." Shelby replied.

"And I should be buying these things anyway." Ava said, motioning to the baby things in her hand. "I'm going to be a mom and shouldn't have to rely on you to pay for my choices."

Shelby gave a slight nod and moved past the girls to pay for her items, along with the girls' jackets and winter items. With the several bags stacked in the cart, Shelby stood off to the side while Rachel waited for the cashier to ring up her selections. Her eyes bulged when she saw how much Rachel had in her wallet, when Rachel said they had money, she was only expecting twenty or thirty dollars. Rachel held her two bags and stood next to Shelby and Ava walked over a few minutes later.

At home, Shelby went into her room and dropped her bags on the bed. She separated out the girls' things into two bags and carried them back into the livingroom, setting them on the couch. On the way home, Shelby had ordered pizza, much to her and the girls' dismay. Rachel was standing by the front hall closet, hanging up her clothes from Rose's and the shopping trip. Shelby didn't have more than a few jackets hung up and told the girls they could use the rest of the closet for their clothing. Ava had found her small box of things she had purchased for the baby and was now organizing it to fit the new items. The blanket was too big for the box to be closed and Ava decided to leave it out and draped it over the arm rest of the side of the couch she slept on.

"Here's your jackets and stuff." Shelby announced, placing Ava's bag on the couch and put Rachel's on the floor by the closet. "You can wear them tomorrow to school and while you girls are at glee, I'll take them to the dry cleaners to see if I can have them cleaned to get rid of the crap the stores spray on them to make them look nice while on display."

"Alright." Rachel said. "And thank you for buying them for us."

"Yeah, thanks." Ava smiled.

Shelby smiled at both girls, thinking she had won them over in understanding that she was doing what she needed to do as a mother and not expect anything in return. After dinner Ava had slipped outside, clad in her new jacket and hat at the request of Shelby, to talk to Sam on the phone. Rachel was on the couch watching TV and Shelby started the dishwasher, joining Rachel on the couch.

"Whatcha watching?" She asked.

"Lies My Mother Told Me." Rachel answered.

Shelby looked apprehensive at the TV as the teen girl in the Lifetime movie, was sent away to finish school. Not understanding that the movie was about a girl on the run with her mom after the older woman stole credit cards, cars, and a woman's identity, Shelby thought it was about a mom who ditched her daughter because of a guy she was in love with.

"Don't worry." Rachel softly said, looking at Shelby. "She's doing it because she's been stealing money from her husband's company and lying about who she is. She's afraid she's going to be caught and doesn't want her daughter to get caught up in it." Rachel decided to change the channel, even though she really liked the movie. "It's not a very good movie, anyway, she ends up killing the guy and hiding the body."

"Oh." Shelby replied.

"I'll find something else to watch." Rachel flipped through the channels but Shelby took the remote away and turned off the television.

"Mom." Rachel whined. "It's only 9:00, I still have a half hour until everything has to be turned off."

"I know but I want to talk to you about the money in your wallet."

"I didn't do anything illegal to get it." Rachel quickly said. "I helped Puck clean pools over the summer."

"I wasn't trying to imply that you were doing something wrong, I think it's great you worked over the summer." Shelby said. "I was just thinking your wallet isn't a safe place for that much money. We should take you to the bank to open a bank account."

"I wanted too but since my dads were away, they wouldn't let me without a parent or a guardian since I am a minor. Granny can't walk too much or she gets worn out so I didn't want to bother her with it."

"I can take you." Shelby said. "I would feel much better about it not being in your purse."

"Can I get a debit card?" Rachel asked. "It would be easier to have one so that if I need to get something from the store, I wouldn't have to run to the bank every time."

"Of course." Shelby nodded. "Actually, I might have Ava open one too. That way I can just transfer money to your accounts for your allowance and whenever you may need it and I'm not around."

"Where would you be?" Rachel sensitively asked.

"Some nights I might have to work a little later for parent teacher night or conventions that I'm required to attend. It's nothing over night but this way I don't have to worry about you guys not having money if you want to get something to eat or whatever. Or if you go out with friends, I can transfer spending money."

"Oh. Okay." Rachel replied. "I suppose it's not a bad idea."

"Good." Shelby said. Ava walked into the house and kicked her shoes off at the door, then hung her jacket up in the closet.

"What's good?" She asked, sitting on the couch with Shelby now in the middle.

"Opening you two up some bank accounts for your allowance and whatever other money you have."

"Allowance?" Ava questioned.

"I think an allowance is a good idea for you, along with having chores. I'll make a chore chart and figure out how much you'll get and we will talk about it later."

"How much?" Rachel asked, trying not to sound rude.

"How much do your dads give you?"

"Fifty dollars a week." Rachel said.

"You're kidding me, right?" Shelby raised her brow. That was completely out of the ballpark that Shelby was thinking the dollar amount should be.

"No." Rachel shook her head. "Our allowance paid for our lunches, toiletries, clothes, and other things we needed."

"You had to buy those things yourselves?" Shelby slowly asked, not sure if she completely heard them right.

"Daddies said it would prepare us for when we were grown and on our own." Ava piped up. "They just want to make sure that when we are eighteen and leave home, we know how to manage our money properly. For our 18th birthday, they plan to give us each a thousand dollars to get us started."

"Yeah, I mean at least they are being nice and giving us that money before we have to leave." Rachel said. "I don't know how much money, I'll have saved up for New York by the time I turn eighteen. Of course because we turn eighteen six months before we graduate, we figured we'd need part-time jobs to afford a one bedroom apartment. Since I won't be able to save much up after we move out of my dads' house, the thousand dollars will be a lot of help for my move."

"They're kicking you out on your 18th birthday?" Shelby asked, this conversation slowly began eating away at her.

"At least they are letting me get a job after I turn seventeen, that way I can save up money for a year." Rachel replied with a nod to Shelby's answer. "Since choosing my career path as a Broadway actress, they believe it is up to me for pay for the choice I made to move to New York."

There was that phrase again. Shelby wanted to ask about it but was still wrapping her head around them being kicked out before they graduated high school and not only that, but not offering any help outside of the thousand dollars was crazy. What was going to happen if Rachel ran out of money in New York City and needed somewhere to live? What were they going to do then? And Ava, how was she going to go to school, work, take care of a baby and be able to pay for child care working only a part-time job?

"You're seriously being kicked out at eighteen?" Shelby asked, trying to sound not as pissed off as she was on the inside.

"Society deems us to be adults. Our fathers would no longer be responsible for us and that means it will be our time to begin our own lives." Ava responded as if it were no big deal. And to her it wasn't, she's known this was going to happen for years now.

Shelby was bothered by this discovery to the point she wasn't getting much sleep. While most parents claimed they couldn't wait until their children moved out of the house, it was mainly a joke. No parent really wanted their kids to move away. Shelby couldn't believe how normal Rachel and Ava seemed with this too, even if it had been said to them many times, aren't they the least bit hurt about it?

Friday came around and Shelby was still affected by it all. The girls noticed but Shelby played it off by saying she was just stressed with issues of starting a new job. They were still in the process of figuring out their new relationship and bringing up how she felt worried how the girls would react to her feelings towards the situation.

Four loud and laughing teenagers pulled Shelby's attention to outside her office. Ava and Rachel, plus their boyfriends, were arriving to fetch Shelby so they could go to to Ava's appointment together. Shelby walked out of her office, purse and coat in hand, and signed the girls out. Puck handed Shelby his forged note from his 'mother', stating he could leave school for the appointment. He believed he had gotten one over on Shelby but the woman knew better. While she didn't want to call him out on it, she started plotting out how to punish him for the fake note.

"Sam, where's your note from your parents to leave school?" Shelby asked, turning to the boy. Sam glanced sadly over at Ava, who wasn't any happier than him.

"Mom?" Ava asked, tilting her head, asking for them to speak in private. Rachel and Puck were aware of Sam's predicament, however, out of respect for Sam, Ava felt it would be better to talk about it with Shelby away from the group.

"I can't let him go without a note from his parents." Shelby stated. "And I don't have authority to let him leave."

"This is an important day for us, Mom." Ava replied. "Sam's parents hate me for getting pregnant. They monitor his phone to make sure we aren't talking. He has to call from friend's phones or from the pay phone at the gas station down the road from his house. We had to plan this appointment during his lunch so he wouldn't get in trouble since we have off campus lunch. I know he needs the permission slip because we're not coming back until the middle of his Spanish class but please, can't you help us out? Just this once?"

"I don't know." Shelby said.

"It's for our baby. His son or daughter." Ava said. She couldn't tell if Shelby was going to cave or not, so she decided to try something that would. "You've missed out on mine and Rachel's lives because you weren't allowed to see us. Don't let that happen to Sam. Don't let him miss out on this, he's one of the good guys mom. He loves me and he loves his child and actually wants to take care of us. Isn't that what you want for me?"

Shelby caved. Two words in and Shelby caved.

"Fine. He can go but I'll have to give him a warning slip." Shelby said.

"Thank you. Thank you!" Ava grinned, hugging her mom and rushing over to tell Sam.

A half hour later, Rachel was sitting next to Shelby in the exam room. Ava was laying back on the slightly elevated bed with Sam sitting beside her on the bed. He was kinda cramped as the ultrasound machine was next to him. Puck had somehow become wedged between Rachel and Shelby and stood up to get some distance between the woman who scared him. Not that he'd ever admit that out loud. He moved closer to Sam, leaning against the counter.

Shelby was flipping through a magazine, while Rachel scrolled through a baby name app on her phone, trying to guess the names Sam and Ava had picked out for their baby.

"Hazel?"

"God no." Ava scrunched up her nose. "That sounds like one of Granny's friends."

"Colby?"

"We're in Ohio, not Wisconsin. I do not feel the need to name my baby after cheese." Ava rolled her eyes.

"Yes but you've craved cheese these last few months. Just thought you'd get some strange inspiration from one of your middle of the night cravings."

"There was the talk of naming the baby Blu if she was a girl." Sam spoke up.

"Ha ha. Oh yeah." Ava laughed so hard her belly was shaking. "Her name would be Blu Berry Evans."

"The fuck it would." Shelby murmured to herself, turning a new page.

"What about Milo?" Rachel exclaimed. "You said once that you wanted to name your son Milo."

"Rachel, I was ten and got it from the movie The Adventures of Milo and Otis. I think I out grew that." Ava said. "Anyway, I'm not telling you until later, so deal with it."

"But Ava." Rachel whined.

"Sweetheart, don't whine. You'll find out soon enough." Shelby patted the pouting girl's knee.

"Sam." Ava said, capturing her boyfriend's attention. "I think someone needs their daddy to calm them down. Baby is kicking like crazy, help me out?"

"Sure, babe." Sam said and leaned forward to have his face be inches from Ava's belly, tugging her long sleeved shirt up to show her bare belly. "Long ago, in a galaxy far far away.."

"There was a young Jedi." Puck cut in, grabbing the ultrasound wand that was used for internal ultrasound. It looked like a shortened lightsaber. He began waving it around at Sam, making 'whooshing' sounds.

Shelby placed her magazine in her lap and glanced at the boys with a raised eyebrow. Ava was amused but she was not. Rachel, loving any chance she got to put her acting skills to use, jumped out of her chair and hid behind Puck.

"Save me Noah Puckwalker!" She dramatically said, putting a hand to her forehead.

"Give me the girl." Sam said, going over to Shelby and taking her magazine. He rolled it up and used that as his lightsaber.

The boys began battling and Rachel let out a few yelps and _Save me Puckwalker. _Shelby stayed quiet, hoping this would end relatively soon. However, a jab sent Sam backwards, knocking into a row of glass jars on the counter that held different supplies and the jar of tongue compressors spilled all over. Shelby stood up, the boys continuing their fight and picked up the spilled sticks. Pushing the jar back in line with the others, Shelby grabbed the ultrasound wand from Puck and placed it on the ultrasound cart.

"I know this is really exciting but _try_ to calm down." Shelby said, taking the rolled up magazine back from Sam. As she returned to her seat, Shelby smacked each boy upside the head with the magazine. She pointed Rachel back in the direction of her chair and they all sat down.

The room was quiet for a moment as they settled down but Sam spoke up, using his best Yoda impression. "Try, there is no try."

Shelby narrowed her eyes at the boy. Puck leaned towards Shelby and waved his hand in front of Shelby's face, using the force. "These are not the teenagers you are looking for. They can go about their business, move on."

Shelby rolled her eyes and was glad the ultrasound technician knocked on the door, ending the stupid Star Wars crap.

Ava had to answer a few questions from the technician while he prepped her for the scan. Sam had moved to the other side of Ava and was in his own chair, holding Ava's hand. Ava shivered slightly at the cold jelly being squirted on her abdomen and Shelby gave a small chuckle, remembering her own reactions to the cold gel.

"Alright, let's take a look at this little guy or gal." The man said, picking up the external ultrasound wand.

"May the force be with you." Sam said, placing a hand on Ava's belly before the ultrasound began. His Yoda voice was really irritating Shelby.

"Okay Yoda, enough is enough. The old Jedi routine is getting old.

Sam, apparently seeking a death wish, used his Yoda voice to reply to Shelby.

"When 900 years old you reach, look as good." Sam said. "You will not."

Ava glanced past the tech to see her mom was now pissed as the woman was sure Sam had just called her old and said she looked old as well.

"I think she may have succumbed to the dark side." Ava said to Sam and earned a glare from Shelby.

Sam, feeling a little defiant and not realizing how much trouble he is in, looked at Shelby. "You can't win. Strike me down, and I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

"That's it." Shelby stood up, slamming the magazine on her chair. She started to advance on Sam.

"Help him OBGYN Kenobi!" Ava squealed to the doctor. "You're his only hope."

"Let's step outside for a moment." Shelby said, yanking Sam up by the hood of his sweatshirt. Looking to the doctor, she spoke kindly. "Please continue with the scan." She opened the door and moved Sam out to the hall and closed the door, not hearing Puck hum the Imperial Death March. "Look, Yoda. I think you are a very sweet boy and I am so glad that of all the males at McKinley who could have been the father of my daughter's baby, that you are it. However, the Star wars thing needs to end. It was slightly funny at first but now it's done. You need to show Ava and myself and her fathers, that you can be mature enough to be a dad. And don't worry, we expect the same thing from Ava. I don't mind you joking around and what not but you need to learn that there is a time and place to be an adult. The doctor's office is the time and place. Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Sam nodded, gulping a little.

"Good." Shelby said and opened the door for them to go back into the room. Shutting the door, Shelby sat down, giving everyone in the room a warning. "No more Star Wars references."

"Well." The doctor said, stopping the ultrasound for a moment. "The baby looks great and is gaining sufficient weight. He or she is a little underweight but given your age, that is normal and I am not concerned about it at this moment."

"But the baby will be okay, right?" Ava worriedly asked.

"Your baby is perfectly fine." The doctor assured her.

"Good." Ava sighed with relief.

"Do you want to know the sex?" He asked.

"Yes. Please." Ava greedily nodded.

"Alright." The doctor said, returning the wand to Ava's belly. He moved the instrument around her belly for two agonizing minutes. "And it is a...Boy!"

"Oh my god!" Ava cried out, tears running down the side of her head. "It's a boy."

"We're having a boy." Sam whispered, in awe.

Rachel threw her arms around Shelby, both girls crying. Puck and Sam pumped fists, then hugged each other. Ava's eyes couldn't leave the screen as she stared at the freeze frame of her baby boy. The doctor typed It's a Boy on the image and Hi Mommy and Daddy on the other. Ava asked him to personalize another one for Rachel and Puck, saying I love my Auntie Rachel and Uncle Noah. Then picked one picture just for Shelby.

"Can you have that one say, '_I love you_ _Grandma_?" Ava asked and looked to Shelby.

"Thank you." Shelby choked out, then her face went completely pale. "Oh, shit. I'm gonna be a grandma." Shelby put her hands over her face and sat down in her chair. This was not suppose to happen when her daughter was 16. For the first time it hit her that she would be called grandma at only 35.

Once Ava's belly was cleaned up and the photos were printed off, the group was able to leave. Ava walked over to Shelby, who was holding her purse. They hadn't had the chance to hug yet and when Ava was in reach, Shelby wrapped her arms tightly around Ava.

"I'm so glad you were able to be here." Ava quietly said.

"Me too." Shelby sniffled in Ava's ear.

"I'm starving." Rachel told Puck, loud enough to get her mom and sister's attention. She wasn't trying to end the moment out of jealousy but because she really was hungry and wanted to get out of the clinic.

The five walked down the hallway, Shelby leading the way and the doctor stepped infront of the kids.

"You underestimate the power of the dark side."

Shelby spun around and glared at the doctor. If looks could kill, he'd be a dead man.

"You." She pointed a finger at the man. "Are not helping."

"I see." He laughed. "This is more of The Empire Strikes Back. Perhaps next time we'll have more of a Return of The Jedi."

"Whatever." Shelby mumbled and called for the children to follow her.

"Be brave Padawans, but let me give you some advice." The doctor said and Shelby rolled her eyes but continued to the door. "Let the Wookie win."

Shelby stood by the door, waiting for the kids and hadn't heard what the doctor said. Rachel caught up to Ava and Sam, whispering to her twin.

"I think your doctor just called mom an overgrown, hairy creature that makes no sense."

"Shush." Ava said, as the were close to Shelby.

"Ava, do you see that man often?" Shelby asked as they walked to her SUV.

"No, only for my ultrasounds." Ava said. "Why?"

"We are never going to him again." Shelby said, getting into the car.

Like planned, they went to Breadstix after. Shelby scanned the menu and shook her head as Rachel begged to know the name of her nephew. Ava was trying to pick something to eat but the constant bothering by Rachel was distracting her and she finally placed her menu down.

"I guess I will make my announcement now." Ava said, having wanted to wait until they were waiting for their food to say something.

"Yes." Rachel clapped excitedly.

Shelby placed her menu down to give Ava her full attention. "What announcement?"

"She's announcing the baby's name." Rachel hissed for her mom to be quiet.

"Baby, let her talk." Shelby softly said, giving a sympathetic look to the very impatient girl. She was just as curious as Rachel was but that still didn't mean Rachel could speak rudely.

"Sam and I have been talking about what to name our child." Ava started. "It's been a battle since the day I told him I was pregnant but we eventually came to an agreement. You wanna tell them Sam?"

"You tell them." Sam said, wanting Ava to have this moment.

"No, you."

"You." Sam pushed.

"Will one of you just tell us." Shelby blurted out.

"Now look who is impatient." Rachel muttered and made the mistake of glancing at her mother, who had narrowed eyes staring at Rachel.

"Fine, I'll do it." Ava said. "For a boy, we picked Mason Shawn Evans."

"I love it!" Rachel said.

"Cool name, Bro." Puck said to Sam.

"What do you think, Mom?" Ava asked, when Shelby didn't immediately reply. "Do you like it?"

"It's a wonderful name, sweetheart." Shelby proudly smiled, thanking God Ava had picked a male name to the equivelent of Blu Berry-Evans.

"We have another announcement too." Sam said, quieting down the table. "Puck and Rachel, you two have been so supportive during this time and we couldn't find any other way to thank you, then naming you Mason's Godparents. If you accept that role, of course."

"Really?" Rachel asked Ava, her eyes filling with tears.

"Really, Rach." Ava nodded, her own tears spilling over. "I was so worried the pregnancy would affect our relationship and that you would hate me for it. But you've been amazing and I couldn't ask for a better sister. I love you Rachel and I would die if I didn't have you by my side."

"I love you too." Rachel said, sobbing as she got up and walked around the table to hug her sister.

* * *

**A/N: thank you for the wonderful reviews and Thank you to Rachel 'fancy pants', for helping with Star wars!**


	4. Chapter 4

Ava opened the door of the auditorium and pushed open the second set of doors to her left to go outside. The chill of the freezing air pricked at Ava's cheeks as she hugged her arms close to her body, her jaw clattered rapidly as she gave a quick scan of the mostly filled parking lot for her mother's car. She didn't see the black SUV and turned to go back inside and wait where she could still see.

Shelby had spent the last hour at the grocery store, getting a few things to last the next two weeks until she'd go shopping again. In the last three days the new mom had learned just how much food two teenagers went through and made sure to stock her cart with extra snacks, two cases of bottled water, and coffee. Definitely coffee. She had been running out of energy faster these days and was going through coffee like mad. Checking her watch while waiting for her credit card to be approved at the register, Shelby sighed. She had hoped she'd have enough time to stop at home to put away the groceries before getting the twins.

Ava was heading back into the school as Shelby pulled into the entrance of the school. She honked the horn, getting Ava's attention and pulled up along side the sidewalk, unlocking the doors for her daughter.

"Hey, Ava."

"Hi." Ava closed the door and fastened her seatbelt.

"Where's Rachel? We need to hurry up and get home, there's groceries in the trunk."

"It's Friday." Ava stated, looking at her mom. "Her and Puck go out for dinner and sometimes a movie. Tonight they are going to see a movie though."

"She what?" Shelby seethed. Rachel had obviously not called Shelby for permission and this didn't settle well with the mom. "Where did they go to eat?"

"I don't know. Her and Puck were trying to decide when they left a few minutes ago."

"What time is their movie?" Shelby asked. Since it wasn't known where their dinner was going to be held, she'd just snag Rachel at the theater.

"I'm not sure about that either."

"Great." Shelby growled and started the car.

"What are we going to do after we put the groceries away?"

"You know what Ava, that's the last thing on my mind right now as I have no idea where your sister is or when she will be home." Shelby snapped.

"Sorry." Ava ruefully said.

Shelby exhaled, mad at herself for being short with Ava. Worse than that, she pretty much told Ava she didn't give a crap about spending time with her alone. Nice job, Shelby. Nice job.

"Ava-"

"-I should have more information for you. Kurt's father typically asks the 'where, when, and with who' questions and it would only make sense that as an overprotective parent such as yourself, would want to know those specifics."

"It's not that I'm overprotective, Ava. To you and Rachel it seems that way because of the type of parenting style your dads use." If you could even call it a parenting style, Shelby saw it being more of a business partner relationship. "I like to know where my children are and expect that they have my permission before they go off with friends and boyfriends. Especially their boyfriends, considering I already have to deal with one child who is having her own baby."

Ava remained quiet the rest of the car ride and during the several trips from the house to the car to unload the groceries from the trunk. Shelby left Ava to put the food away, while she went outside to try and get in contact with her other daughter. Shelby called Rachel twice and sent four text messages, demanding Rachel call her back ASAP.

Rachel's phone was resting on the top of her purse and the screen lit up, flashing Shelby's name for the seventh time. Seeing how close the messages and phone calls were coming in, Rachel knew Shelby probably wasn't happy with her. She stared at the phone, wondering if she should answer the third phone call or not. Holding the phone in her hand, Rachel rolled her eyes. She was going to be seventeen in less than 30 days. Her dads trusted her to let her do whatever she wanted and make her own judgement call on how long she stayed out. Shelby needed to understand she was not a toddler.

Shelby was about to go back in the house, when Rachel decided to return her calls. "Rachel Barbra Berry, where the hell are you?" She demanded to know.

"Mom." Rachel confidently stated. "I am out to dinner with Puck and then we are going to a movie. I will be home after that, most likely."

"You are going to tell me where you are and I am coming to get you. Tell me where you are."

"No." Rachel defiantly squared her shoulders and her voice. "I will be home later."

"No? No?" Shelby repeated, floored by the girl's response. No one told Shelby Corcoran no. "Rachel-"

"Our food is ready." Rachel lied. "I have to go."

"Rachel, if you hang up on me, you're going-" Shelby began her threat but never got to finish it. Rachel's phone cut out and sure enough Shelby had just been hung up on. "You are so dead."

Ava had finished putting away the groceries and was sitting at the breakfast bar, texting Sam and Santana when Shelby walked in the door. Shelby placed her phone on the counter and went around the other side of the bar to be across from Ava.

"Talk to Rachel?" Ava asked, feeling Shelby's stare on her.

"Sure." Shelby replied, not wanting to talk about the Rachel situation at the moment. "Have any homework?"

"No." Ava answered, typing out a message to Santana. She sent the message and got off the bar stool. "I'm going to take a nap."

"Are you feeling alright?" Shelby asked, moving to stand by Ava.

"I'm fine." Ava shortly replied and went over to the couch.

"You can sleep in my bed. It's quicker than getting the pull out set up and more comfortable than the couch itself."

"Fine." Ava said, grabbing the blanket she got Mason the other day. It had become her favorite blanket to cuddle with at night.

Shelby had Ava change out of her workout clothes she had worn for glee rehearsals and into some pajamas. She peeled back the covers of her bed and fixed the pillows a little before setting the remote to the TV on the bed in case Ava wanted to watch some television before falling asleep Ava walked into the room and climbed into the bed. Shelby sat on the edge of the mattress and got Ava tucked in, kissing her forehead before standing up.

"I'll wake you up for dinner." Shelby quietly said as Ava got comfortable on her side.

"Don't worry about it." Ava said, Shelby missing the edge in her voice. She knew she had to eat but didn't want to be woken up at a specific time. Glee had worn her out and staying asleep at night wasn't so easy anymore.

"I'll wake you up for dinner." Ava sensed the stern parental tone in her mother's voice.

"Fine." She grumbled.

Shelby stared at Ava's back, taken back by Ava's sudden moodiness but chalked it up to pregnancy hormones as she left the room. In the chaos of having two teens, Shelby had become behind on laundry. The bathroom hamper was full of clothes, towels, and the sheet from the pull out following Rachel's prank on Ava.

Rachel reached over and held Puck's hand as they walked to the front door of the condo. Shelby had left the porch light on and the rest of the lights in the house were off. It was well after one in the morning and Rachel was sure Shelby was asleep. After hearing the anger in her voice earlier, Rachel was glad to be able to go to bed and not have to deal with Shelby until later in the morning. Hopefully by then Shelby had calmed down some so Rachel could explain to her that Shelby had acted ridiculously.

Finally coming up for air, Puck and Rachel's lips parted and Rachel moved to the door, placing her hand on the handle. Puck kissed her one last time and he walked to his car, waiting to make sure Rachel got in alright before leaving. Rachel shut the door, slipping off her black flats and hanging up her jacket. The only light in the condo that was on, was the light above the stove that Shelby always left on after she had gone to bed. Rachel didn't want to make any noise digging through the closet to find something to wear to bed and went into the bathroom to pull out the clothes she had worn the night before.

"Damn." She huffed. Shelby had done laundry. Rachel unlocked the bathroom door and twisted the door handle, coming face to face with Shelby. "Hello, Mother." She greeted with annoyance in her voice to let her mom know she was not happy with her as she walked out to the livingroom. Halfway to the closet, Rachel spun on her heels to look at Shelby. "Oh, and by the way, I am going to the closet so you don't need to blow up my phone asking where I am."

"I'd be careful with the smartass comments." Shelby warned, folding her arms across her chest. "You're in enough trouble as it is. I'm grounding you for the rest of the weekend. No friends, no phone or iPod, and you'll be going to bed at 9:30."

"What!?" Rachel shouted.

"Keep your voice down, your sister is sleeping." Shelby said, referring to the other teen sleeping just a mere three feet away. "Now, I don't feel like having this conversation at 1:30 in the morning. I'd like for you to get some pajamas on and go to bed. You've been up late enough and considering you like to be up early in the morning, you need some sleep."

"I don't need to be told what to do. I am more than capable of deciding when I need to go to bed." Rachel snapped.

She was about to spin around and go to the closet but Shelby was quicker and grabbed Rachel's arm. Shelby easily lifted Rachel off the ground and carried her into the bedroom to keep the noise down to not disturb Ava. She placed Rachel on her feet and closed the bedroom door. Shelby locked the door and took Rachel's arm in her hand once more, walking her to the chair in the corner of the room. Rachel sat down and crossed her arms, glaring heavily at her mother.

Shelby held her own hard stare as she stooped down to be eye level with Rachel. "First of all, drop the glare." When Rachel refused, Shelby tightened up her voice. "Now."

Rachel waited a few seconds and eventually lowered her glare but still gave her mom a displeased look. Shelby was about to repeat herself but decided to pick her battles. Rachel had already removed some of the anger from her face and Shelby was going to accept that Rachel wasn't happy with her.

"It's 1:30 in the morning. I'm tired and I know you're tired, whether you want to admit it or not. You are aware that your actions over the last few hours are not sitting well with me and you should be thankful that I am not jumping down your throat and go to bed without saying anything other than I'm sorry and goodnight." Shelby said. "I am giving you this chance to go do as I ask. We can talk in the morning when we are both well rested and have had sometime to calm down. Trust me, Rach, you'll want to take this offer as I won't always be willing to wait."

Rachel unfolded her arms and got to her feet when Shelby stepped back just a tad bit. For a moment Shelby thought Rachel was going to peacefully do what she was told. Rachel, who fully planned to drop the talk until later on because she was in fact tired, had one more thing to say to Shelby before she left the room. "You need to understand that while I crave to live the normal teenage life I was deprived of, I also have been raised to take care of myself and make my own decisions. I will do what I want, when I want. If I choose to go out in the middle of the night without telling you, I will. You should be thankful if I even leave a note telling you where I went and when I'll be back."

Shelby's jaw clenched and she held back on yelling at Rachel. Unlocking the door, Shelby went to the closet and grabbed some cotton shorts and tank top, handing it to Rachel, who had followed her out.

"Change and come back into my room." Shelby said, placing the clothing in Rachel's arms. Rachel growled but went to the bathroom, slamming the door.

Rachel emerged minutes later, slamming the door again, and found her mom in her room. Shelby had grabbed an extra blanket, deciding it would be best for Rachel to sleep in her room tonight. Her bed was pushed up against the wall and she was going to have Rachel sleep between her and the wall. Rachel was directed into the bed and grumbled a few words as she crawled across. Shelby's hand shot out and landed a quick and stinging swat to Rachel's thinly covered backside.

"Ow." Rachel whimpered, rubbing her bottom a little before getting under the covers.

"I suggest you not talk under your breath." Shelby said. "Or at least talk quieter if you are going to use the F-word, which if I hear it again, you'll be tasting soap for a week."

"Sorry." Rachel mumbled.

"Lay down and I'll be right back." Shelby said, wanting to make sure Rachel had locked the front door.

"Mom?" Ava's sleepy voice whispered out into the semi darkness.

"It's okay, baby. Go back to sleep." Shelby cooed, her sleepy tone matching Ava's.

"Rachel?" She whimpered.

"She's home, don't worry." Shelby assured her.

"No she's not." Ava said after a quick glance to the bed beside her. "You're lying."

Ava was half awake and overly tired. Shelby knew Ava wasn't going to go to bed until she saw Rachel. Even then, Ava wasn't going to want to go back to sleep without Rachel by her side. She gathered Ava's blanket and let the girl hold on to the baby blanket as she guided Ava into her bedroom. Though she could hardly keep her eyes open or balance, Ava's eyes lit up when she saw that Rachel was in fact home.

"Get into bed." Shelby kindly said and Ava got in, climbing over Rachel so she could be against the wall. Shelby covered the two up with their blankets and got in bed herself, seeing it was almost two in the morning. She kissed them each goodnight and laid down. "No one gets out of bed before ten."

"Sweet." Ava mumbled with a smile. No one had to tell her twice.

"But mom-" Rachel whined, sleepiness playing a huge factor.

"Ten O'clock, Rachel." Shelby repeated, turning out the lamp on the bedside table. She could feel Rachel angrily pouting beside her and she rolled over to kiss Rachel's temple. "You'll thank me tomorrow." She whispered.

Rachel woke up naturally at six, just four hours later and sighed. Shelby had said to stay in bed until ten but what was she going to do until then? Ava had turned in her sleep to face the wall and Shelby was on her side, facing the twins. Rachel was still kinda tired and snuggled her blankets, trying to go back to sleep but it was no use. She hadn't slept in since she was nine years old. By 6:30, Rachel had enough and sat up. An arm next to her snaked out and pulled her back down to the bed.

"What time is it?" Shelby asked, her eyes still closed.

"9:45." Rachel lied.

"Lay with me." Shelby wiggled herself close to Rachel. "Just for a couple minutes, then I'll make you breakfast."

Rachel didn't protest at all and instead, cuddled into her mom. She had dreamed about these kinds of moments all her life and wasn't about to let the opportunity pass her by. Shelby's eyes were closed when Rachel glanced up from her mom's chest but she knew the woman was still awake as she had a smile on her face.

"Mom?" Rachel quietly said, knowing if she woke up Ava, there would be hell to pay.

"Hmm?" Shelby hummed with a yawn.

"I'm sorry about before, I should have told you Puck and I were going on a date."

Shelby opened one eye, astonished by Rachel's version of an apology. She sat up, letting both eyes get use to the little light the morning sun had to offer and glanced at the time. She groaned but got to her feet. Clearly this conversation was going to be had much much early than Shelby had planned. She motioned Rachel to follow her and they left Ava to sleep. Rachel was sat down on the pull out and Shelby went over to start the coffee; she was going to need lots of it to make it through the day. With a cup in hand, Shelby took a hot sip and sat down by Rachel, leaning against the back of the couch.

"I appreciate you trying to apologize on your own but it's not a proper apology." Shelby finally said after taking a few more sips of her precious drink.

"But I said I was sorry for not telling you." Rachel said.

"Exactly what I'm talking about, Rachel." Shelby said. "I'm not mad because you didn't tell me you were going, I am mad because you didn't ask if you could go out."

"But I'm going to be se-"

"-Seventeen. I know." Shelby finished for Rachel. "And until you turn eighteen, you have to listen to me and your dads and obey our rules. Next time you want to go out with Noah or with your friends or your sister, you need to ask me first. You don't just take off and have your sister let me know where you are going."

"My dads don't care." Rachel complained. "Why can't you trust me like they do?"

"Rachel, I do trust you but that doesn't change me needing to know where you are. What if something had happened? Like you and Noah got into a car accident somewhere out in the back roads, where cars rarely go by and no one finds you until morning and you are severely injured. Rachel, I would have no idea where to look for you and you could be dead before anyone even discovered there had been an accident." Shelby gave an example, hoping Rachel would see the severity of her actions but it didn't seem to be working. However, Shelby had another scenario. "Or what if your phone had died during the movie and something happened to Ava?"

Rachel's eyes flashed with fear. She would hate herself if she wasn't there for her sister. "Because you didn't tell me where you were eating or which movie you were going to see at what time, I wouldn't know where the hell to find you. Meanwhile, your sister is laying in the hospital, scared. You should have seen the look on Ava's face when she didn't see you in the bed next to her before she knew you were home. She was nearly in tears, scared that you weren't home yet and she didn't even know where to find you. Picture that, now picture her not on this very bed but in the hospital, crying ten times worse. Picture her crying if something had happened to you."

Tears were now streaming down Rachel's face, she hadn't thought about any of this. She never had too. No one ever pointed these things out to her. Rachel had always been allowed to come and go as she pleased. Shelby hated seeing Rachel crying but we pleased to know at least something got through to the girl. Shelby placed her empty cup on the floor and pulled Rachel to sit sideways on her lap.

"I don't mean to upset you, Rachel, that wasn't my intention. All I want you to do, is understand why I need to know where you are." Shelby softly explained, wiping Rachel's face. "I love you, Rachel."

"I love you too." Rachel laid her head on Shelby's shoulder, letting her mom rock her gently. Tilting her head up, Rachel gave Shelby a pair of puppy dog eyes and a small but painfully sweet smile. "Since we talked about it and it's my first offense, maybe I could be let off my grounding?"

"No." Shelby shook her head. She wasn't harsh about it but was letting Rachel know she was serious. "On top of refusing to tell me where you were, you hung up on me, and yelled at me. There needs to be some sort of punishment for that."

"I guess." Rachel sighed, replacing her head back on Shelby's shoulder and began playing with the silver bracelet on Shelby's wrist.

Shelby felt Rachel's fingers slowly relaxing before dropping completely from her wrist, recognizing that Rachel had fallen back asleep. There wasn't much room for Shelby to move without waking Rachel up but she was able to stretch out enough to fall asleep a half hour later. By the time Shelby woke up a few hours later, Rachel had moved to spread out on the bed with her head resting in Shelby's lap. Rustling in the kitchen, pulled Shelby's attention to a hungry Ava making herself a bowl of cereal.

"How long have you been up?" Shelby asked after she had untangled herself from Rachel's hold around her waist.

"Ten minutes." Ava yawned.

"Mind if we talk while you eat?" Shelby asked, sitting down on a stool, while Ava chose to stand at the counter. Ava nodded as she chewed on her first bite of food. "Rachel's grounded from her phone and friends this weekend for actions yesterday. I don't want you letting her borrow your phone or iPod."

"I won't."

"Thank you." Shelby said. "And I am going to tell you the same thing I told her, before you go out with friends or whoever, you need my permission."

"Gottcha." Ava said. "So, I'm assuming that since Rachel is grounded we are too?"

"No, she's only grounded from friends. The three of us can still go out and what not."

"Where are we going?" Ava asked.

"I don't know, I haven't thought much about it." Shelby shrugged.

Several hours later, Shelby had gone into her room to nap while the girls watched a movie. Shelby promised after her nap that they would go get some lunch and then hit up the music store. They were having a great sale and both Rachel and Shelby were dying to go. Rachel and Ava had each taken a shower before Shelby laid down, to make it quicker and easier to get out the door later; they'd only have to wait for Shelby.

"You need to clean up your mess." Rachel said of Ava's makeup and hair products that were currently spread out on the bed and floor.

"I will." Ava replied from her side of the closet. She was trying to find a sweater to wear over her tank top.

"Right now, not two days from now." Rachel firmly said.

Ava sighed and hung up her sweaters and began to collect her beauty products, dropping them in a small storage basket that Shelby lent her. Rachel then got Ava to help her fold up the bed and replace the cushions. Shelby came out of the room just after the girls sat back down on the couch with a towel in her hands.

"Great job cleaning up." Shelby praised. "I'm going to take my shower and then we can go."

"Ava, it's almost one. You need to take your prenatal." Rachel said, standing up and going to the kitchen counter.

"I already took it." Ava called over to her sister.

"No you didn't."

"Yeah." Ava said, very annoyed. "You can even ask mom, I took it after I ate my breakfast."

"That she did." Shelby nodded.

"Did you go for your walk?" Rachel took on a motherly tone and placed her hands on her hips.

"Not yet but seeing as we are going to the music store, I'll just call that my walk for the day." Ava concluded.

"I don't think a walk around a store is what the doctor meant."

"Look, I know what I should and should not be doing. You need to back off a little." Ava calmly said.

"Really?" Rachel challenged. "Because you were suppose to stop drinking soda and yet you had two cans today so far."

"What are you my mother? I don't need you to tell me what to do." Ava crossed her arms. "Back off."

"Clearly you do need my help, otherwise your clothes will stay on the floor until they grow legs of their own."

"So I don't pick up my clothes right away! Who cares?" Ava exclaimed. "And it's not like I leave them in the middle of the floor, I make a small pile of them."

"It takes just as much energy to throw them in the dirty clothes hamper as it does to make a freaking pile. Why not just toss them in the hamper and be done with it instead of doing it three hours later?"

"You're really getting on my nerves." Ava said, stepping closer to her sister.

"You've been on my nerves." Rachel growled, closing off the little space Ava had left.

"Alright. Enough." Shelby said, pushing them apart. "I get that sharing this condo is rough and there's no room to escape away from everyone or to get any privacy. There's nothing I can do about it right this second, so you're going to have to figure out how to manage. Ava, I have an extra laundry basket I can put in the closet for you to use instead of walking to the bathroom."

"Like ten extra steps is going to kill her." Rachel rolled her eyes.

"And Rachel, I understand you like to have things organized and precise but you have to take a step or two back." Shelby then spoke to both girls. "It's just going to take the two of you to adjust just a little to accommodate each other. Ava, try to keep your things picked up and out of Rachel's way. Rachel, try to not nag your sister when she does have things laying around, okay?"

"Okay." The twins grumbled.

"Good."

Through the rest of the day, Shelby was constantly having to referee fights between the twins. Ava mostly just wanted to have a relaxing weekend and just hang around the condo; Shelby too. Rachel, however, could not sit still and was picking fights with Ava over small and stupid stuff. Shelby remembered what Rose had said about Rachel's abnormal amount of energy and was starting to see what the old lady meant. She really started to pay attention more to Rachel's mannerisms.

When sitting in the car, Rachel played with her hands or ran her fingers along the buttons of the car door. During quiet times, movies or while watching TV, Rachel would all of a sudden need to get up and move about. Sometimes she'd pace the kitchen like she was looking for something to eat but would stop and return to her seat, only to find something else to do moments later. Then there were the times Shelby would ask a question that would require a simple answer and Rachel would give her a ten minute dissertation without really answering the question.

Saturday night, following dinner, Shelby got the girls dressed for a short walk before they settled down for the night. Rachel opted to jog along side her sister and mother, often running ahead of them and circling back around to be beside them once more. As Rachel took off to run ahead, Shelby took this moment to talk to Ava.

"Has Rachel ever seen a doctor or someone about her restlessness?"

"No, not that I remember." Ava replied. "But this does happen sometimes, mostly when there's a big change in her life."

"What happens?"

"She seems fine at first but then after a few days, she's hardly sleeping and doesn't seem to stop moving. Once she gets use to the change and adjusts, she'll slow down. I hate when she goes through these things, I never know what to do and I try to keep up with her to keep her company but I just can't."

"When did it start?" Shelby asked.

"The first time I really remember was when we were seven." Ava thought back. "Our dads got into a huge fight and split up. Out of the whole six months of their split, the first three months, Rachel got about 1-3 hours of sleep at night. But you'd never know because she'd be a ball of energy the next day."

"What did your dads think?"

"They chalked it up to her being an active little kid, then as she got older she was instructed to keep it under control. She does fairly well but it's not easy for Rachel, especially in glee. Most people think her sudden interruptions are her being a pain but it's just she gets ideas and can't help but say something right away. Honestly, it's kinda why I joined glee; to keep everyone from being mean to her. They know with me around, I won't put up with it."

"It explains a lot." Shelby sighed and rubbed her face.

"Don't beat yourself up." Ava said, seeing the distress on Shelby's face. "You're new to the mom thing and still learning how Rachel and I work."

"I should have been there." Shelby blurted out. She reached beside her and grabbed Ava's arm, stopping them. "From the beginning. I should have been there and things wouldn't be as they are."

"What do you mean?" Ava asked.

"I don't mean any disrespect towards your fathers and I am not trying to turn you against them." Shelby started.

"But?"

"But I am very angry with them." Shelby said. "I want to yell and scream at them for not giving you a real childhood. Business meetings, wine tastings, and having to work for every penny they gave you, that's not a childhood. While I am grateful they tried to instill values in you that a lot of kids your age lack, I think they took it too far. Had I been there, I wouldn't have allowed it to happen. I don't know how to change the last seventeen years of your lives to give you a normal life."

"Mom, I'm not a doctor and I am no where near a psychologist but I do know that even though we are identical twins, Rachel and I are wired different. We were raised in the same environment and started public schools at the same time, yet I was able to adapt quicker; Rachel was not. I struggled for awhile but when I became a Cheerio, it helped tremendously. It forced me to get to know my teammates because I had to trust them to not kill me. And aside from the few times Quinn accidentally forgot to catch me, they caught me every time and I made a lot of friends from cheering. Now Rachel knows she's not like everyone else and not just because she wears the weirdest clothes. She can't figure out why she is the way she is. "

"She has no control over how she may or may not have been wired."

"And that's Rachel biggest problem. You can see Rachel needs to be in control, it's what our dads have taught her." Ava pointed out. "Now, I've done some research but again, I'm not a doctor but I think Rachel has ADHD with a pinch or two of OCD. I think that's why she's had such a hard time adjusting. Rachel is dead set on making sure she is doing everything perfectly and when things are a mess, she can't function properly and her hyperactivity doesn't help at all."

"I can understand that." Shelby said as she noticed Rachel was on her way back towards them.

"Look, I know I'm gonna be asking for a lot from you, especially with Mason and I have tried to help Rachel but I can only do so much. You can help her though." Ava said. "Please?"

"Of course I am going to help her." Shelby assured her daughter.

"What's the hold up?" Rachel asked, jogging up to Shelby and Ava.

"Nothing, my feet hurt." Ava said before Shelby could answer.

"We should head home anyway, we have a busy day tomorrow anyway." Shelby said.

"We do?" Rachel asked. "What are we doing?"

"House hunting." Shelby stated.

After the day she had, Shelby need a home where she could effectively separate the twins.

She also needed a drink.


	5. Chapter 5

Shelby pulled up to the fourth house of the day. Rachel slid out of the front seat, bored out of her mind. Every house they had been too so far didn't meet Shelby's expectations. Either the bedrooms were too small or the house wasn't in the right neighborhood or it was older than Shelby had specified it to be. Shelby wasn't trying to be picky but this was a big decision and Shelby wanted to make sure that she was getting a good deal for the price. However, Shelby was in a time crunch. The twins' fighting was occurring more and more it seemed with every hour that passed and on top of that, Shelby's landlord had told Shelby she had thirty days to find a new place as two many people were living in the condo. Shelby tried to explain the situation and as much sympathy as her landlord had for her, it wasn't his rules, it was Ohio law.

Blake, the realtor, unlocked the lock box from the door handle and placed it on the ground as he continued to unlock the door itself. Rachel and Ava didn't pay much attention or listened to anything Shelby and Blake were talking about. They were shown the livingroom and the staircase that led up to the second floor, then were walked into the kitchen. As they walked through the kitchen, Blake pointed to the patio door, stating there was a hot tub in the enclosed porch that was connected to the kitchen. Shelby chuckled when she noticed the twins perking up and their scramble to move the blinds to see.

"We need to buy this place!" Rachel squealed.

"We?" Shelby questioned, poking her head into the formal dining room that was attached to the kitchen.

"You." Rachel rolled her eyes.

"That's better." Shelby said. "And there's more to look at and think about before I can agree to place an offer."

"How much is the average electric bill?" Ava walked over to Blake. "And is the stove a gas stove? When was the house built?"

"What's the neighborhood crime rate and when's the last time a house was broken into on this street?"

"Um." Blake said, backing away slightly as the twins cornered him.

"Girls." Shelby said, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "Give him some space."

"What? These are questions you say are very important to know." Rachel said and turned to the relator to continue asking questions.

"Let him show us around, Rachel." Shelby said, dropping her hand from Ava's shoulder to have both of them on Rachel's. Shelby held Rachel, letting Ava and Blake go a few steps ahead of them. "Calm down." She gently told her. "I know this is getting exciting for you but you need to take a deep breath and slow down."

"Yes ma'am." Rachel said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." Shelby said, understanding Rachel couldn't always control herself. "Let's catch up to your sister."

Rachel seemed to calm down as they walked down to the finished basement. Shelby figured she'd turn this space into a family room for when the girls had friends over and any sleepovers that were sure to take place. Off the family room was a laundry room and a storage room. Going back upstairs, Shelby followed Ava, Rachel and Blake up the stairs to the second floor. Four bedrooms and a bathroom were the rooms that occupied the second floor. Blake, after pointing out each room, returned to the main floor to give Shelby and her girls some time to explore the rooms alone.

"What do you guys think so far?" Shelby asked as they stood in the master bedroom.

"I like it." Ava said and Rachel nodded in agreement. "It's really big."

"I like it too and it meets my standards." Shelby said, already starting to plan in her head about how she'd decorate and arrange her room.

"Holy crap." Rachel said, placing a hand over her heart.

"Knock it off." Shelby rolled her eyes and led the girls out of the master bedroom. "So I think Rachel, you take the room next to mine. The room across the hall from yours can be Mason's nursery and across from me would be Ava's room."

"Our own rooms?" Ava asked, quietly.

"Well yeah. You'd each get your own space to call your own. It would save me headaches and lectures." Shelby laughed, missing that her girls did not like the idea of being separated. "Come on, there's one more thing you need to see."

Ava and Rachel shared a saddened glance as the followed their mother downstairs. She opened the blinds and unlocked the sliding glass door, stepping out into the four seasoned porch. While it was a six to eight person hot tub, there was plenty of space to set up an outdoor dining set that would seat ten to twelve people. Opening the screen door that led to the backyard, Shelby showed the girls the in ground pool.

"No way!" The twins screamed.

"You know what this means?" Rachel exclaimed.

"We get to go swimming any time we want in the summer!"

"No." Rachel shook her head at Ava and turned to her mom. "You can hire Puck to clean the pool during the summer and maintain the hot tub year round."

"That's a possibility but I will be the one to talk to Noah about it, understood." Shelby said and Rachel nodded. When discovering the house had a pool when she looked at the listing online, Shelby had gotten the idea to hire Puck, however, she wanted to discuss the rules with Noah prior to hiring him so he'd understand that he was not allowed to be at the house cleaning the pool or hot tub when she wasn't home. She knew Rachel and Noah alone in an empty house would lead to trouble.

Blake walked outside, exiting from the side door from the garage that was attached to the house, and asked what the three ladies thought about the house. Shelby glanced at her girls, who wore pleading faces and Shelby looked back at Blake.

"I think we have a winner." Shelby smiled.

The next afternoon, Shelby's offer was accepted. It surprised Shelby that it had gone through so fast but the couple who had owned the house before were in a rush to get out and get the money so they could move to their new house. Shelby had received a large sum of money over the years coaching VA and put most of it in a bank account, only touching it if it was absolutely necessary. Plus she had quite a bit of money left over from her check from Hiram and Leroy Berry for her services as their surrogate and since leaving the girls, Shelby had been giving voice lessons and made decent money from that as well. Seeing as she was a single woman and didn't have only one else to be financially responsible for anyone else, Shelby was doing very well. It also helped that Hiram and Leroy were giving Shelby non-court ordered child support for the twins.

She had to meet with her landlord to give her notice that she was going to be out before the end of the month and as she walked out of McKinley, Shelby sent the twins each a text. She told Rachel, who had been relieved from her grounding that morning, she would be gone for about a half hour or so and to call her if she needed anything. She sent Ava the same text but seeing as it was Rachel's lunch hour, she added on to her message, letting Ava know she would be talking to her French teacher to make sure Ava had gotten to class on time.

After meeting with the landlord, Shelby returned to work with fifteen minutes left of Rachel's lunch hour. She called up to the French class and was happy to hear Ava had been on time and even arrived three minutes before the class had even started. She hung up the phone and logged onto her computer to finish typing up her article for the school newsletter, introducing herself to the parents and family members of her student body. With the letter finished, Shelby emailed it to the secretary, who put the newsletter together and was in charge of mailing them. Picking up her coffee mug, Shelby walked out of her office to get a refill from the teacher's lounge.

Stirring her dirt tasting coffee, Shelby made a mental note to set up a coffeemaker in her office. It would be convenient and most of all good. Rachel was standing at the front desk when Shelby walked in and she placed her arm across the teen's shoulders and walked her into her office.

"What's up?" Shelby asked, placing the cup on the desk.

"Nothing, I was just signing back in from off campus lunch." Rachel shrugged.

"Off campus lunch?"

"Yeah, Mercedes and I met Kurt at the Salad Bowl." Rachel said.

"You left." Shelby stated. "Without my permission."

"I have permission to leave." Rachel said, pulling out the copy of the permission slip she was to have on her when she left the school. "See? My dads signed it."

"But you're living with me and you didn't have my permission."

"I had permission." Rachel said. "I didn't sneak out. Why are you making such a big deal about this?"

"Rachel, we talked about this. You need to get my permission before you go off and do things. I need to know where you are."

"The front desk knew." Rachel said. "Again, I didn't sneak out, I did this the right away."

"True but you didn't ask me."

"But I have permission." Rachel said, waving the slip in front of Shelby's face.

"And now you don't." Shelby said, ripping up the pink piece of paper.

"This is so stupid!" Rachel shouted and pulled open the door.

"We're not done talking." Shelby said going after Rachel.

"Well I am. I don't need to get your permission to go somewhere when I already have permission. I didn't do anything wrong and you need to accept that you don't have full control over me." Rachel said and left Shelby standing in the hallway.

Rachel went to the accounting room and sat down at her assigned computer. Her focus was taken off her current blow up with Shelby as she did her lessons for the day. She finished her class work and began to do some extra work to pass the time. At the end of class, Rachel packed up her things and waited at the door to leave. She was usually the first one at the door and had to wait two to three minutes for the bell. Shelby was standing outside the closed door and Rachel saw her through the narrow window in the door. The bell rang and Rachel sighed, knowing this was going to be part two of their argument.

"I really don't want to talk anymore about it, Mom." Rachel said as she pushed open the door when the bell rang.

"And I don't either." Shelby said.

"You don't?" Rachel said, taken back. It wasn't like Shelby to just drop an argument.

"Nope."

"Then why are you here?"

"To walk you to your next class." Shelby said.

"Why?"

"Well seeing as you don't think you need to tell me where you are, I figured it would be easier to follow you around to know where you are." Shelby said.

"Can't you just ground me again?" Rachel sighed.

"I did that once and it didn't work." Shelby pointed out. "So you'll be seeing me more often than usual during the day."

Rachel thought Shelby was kidding. Shelby was serious. The rest of the day, Shelby followed Rachel to each class and was waiting for her as soon as the class was over. Sometimes she'd walk beside Rachel and other times she'd just follow her while Rachel walked with her friends. At the last class of the day, Shelby stood at Rachel's classroom door and waited for Rachel to finish gathering her things. Ava came out of the room next door and raised her brow.

"She wasn't joking." Ava stated. "You're really following her around."

"Yes I am." Shelby nodded. "And if you ever pull what she did, you'll find yourself being followed too."

"Gottcha." Ava said. "Anyway, I totally forgot to ask you to sign this earlier."

"What is it?" Shelby asked, as Ava fished the paper from her school binder.

"It's to get out of dissecting a fetal pig." Ava said. "Instead of cutting open the fetal pig, I have to do a report on the anatomy of a pig. And while you're at it, you might as well write on there that I will be doing the report for the worm, frog, and squid dissections."

"Alright." Shelby said, taking the paper and pen from Ava, signing it and returning both items to the girl. "There you go."

"Thanks!" Ava smiled as Rachel walked out of her classroom. "Hey Rach."

"Shalom." Rachel waved, only slightly annoyed that Shelby was waiting as well.

"So." Ava said, slinging her arm over Rachel's shoulders. She glanced back at Shelby, seeing there was only a three foot distance. "So following the sectionals dinner, there's talks of a triple date. One of the clubs has a teen night that evening. Yay or nay?"

"Excuse me." Shelby said, causing the twins to turn around. "When were you going to discuss this with me?"

"Later."

"How long is later, Ava?" Shelby folded her arms.

"Later." Ava repeated. "First, I had to see if Rachel was even interested."

"Which she is." Rachel nodded to Ava.

"Now, I have to take this information back to Santana, Brittany,Sam, and Puck for the six of us to talk about it and decide if we want to even go."

"You two are not going to any club." Shelby said.

"But you don't know anything about it!" Ava exclaimed. "Hell, I don't even know anything. We haven't even figured out any details other than who is going."

"Ava, I don't need to know anything. Now, I don't mind you guys having dinner afterwards but you are not going anywhere else to celebrate. Especially to some night club in a city you know nothing about."

"It's not like we're going to an adult night club." Ava rolled her eyes. "It's made for kids our age."

"You are not going anywhere other than sectionals, dinner, and back to the hotel." Shelby stated. "And I don't want to hear another word."

Ava narrowed her eyes just slightly at Shelby but didn't say anything further. She grumbled that she had to get to class and stomped off. Rachel stared at her mother and opened her mouth just slightly.

"Anything you'd like to add?" Shelby questioned with a hand on her hip.

"Yes." Rachel said. She spun on her heels and stormed off to her class. Nothing words would have been enough to top the excellent storm off.

Two days later, Shelby had scheduled two appointments for the girls at the doctor's office. Rachel needed to be seen by a doctor for her possible ADHD and Shelby wanted her to have a physical since she was sure it had been awhile since either girl had seen a doctor, aside from Ava's OBGYN. And because Rachel was seeing the doctor, Shelby decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea for Ava to see her regular doctor as well. She purposefully didn't tell the girls about the appointments as they were scheduled during glee rehearsals; Rachel was not going to be happy.

At 3:45, Shelby walked into the choir room and found that only a small handful of the glee kids were there. She furrowed her brow, noticing Rachel and Ava weren't around. Will spotted the principal and excused himself from Kurt, Finn, and Mike's group.

"Hey, Shelby." Will smiled. "Are you looking for the twins?"

"Yeah, where are they?"

"In the auditorium with the rest of the girls. They're suppose to be working on an assignment. I was about to go check on them in fifteen minutes."

"I'll take care of it." Shelby said, backing out of the choir room. "I'm gonna be pulling the girls out early for their doctor's appointments."

"I saw your email." Will gave a slight nod.

"Thanks."

Shelby pushed open the auditorium door but didn't make her presence known. She has been meaning to watch the girls practice for a while now but with the mess Figgins caused, it was taking up a lot of her time. She had stopped following Rachel around the school the day before yesterday and both were happy it was over. Rachel seemed to understand why Shelby had chosen that punishment and agreed she should have asked Shelby first.

The girls were all wearing bathrobes, Ava and Rachel were wearing the two they had grabbed from Shelby's room that morning, and Shelby was curious. Taking a seat in the far back, Shelby watched as Rachel took control over the group.

"We should hurry up and practice this before Mr. Shuester comes to check on us." She said, motioning to Brittany to start the music.

Shelby's jaw dropped as Missy Elliot's song Work It began to play. Robes were tossed a side and the girls stood in sexy lingerie. She was out of her seat and on stage in a matter of seconds, stopping the stereo. All heads turned to the tall and angry woman. Rachel and Ava shared a nervous glance and tried to back away to go backstage but Shelby immediately glared at them, daring the two to take another step.

"Get your robes on and take a seat." Shelby demanded. No one moved and Shelby seethed, adding a loud. "NOW!"

Shelby picked up the robes that belonged to her, forcing her daughters to come face to face with her.

"We can explain." Ava softly said.

"Go sit down." Shelby said, handing the robes to the twins.

"But mom-" Rachel exclaimed.

"-Do not start with me, Rachel. Go sit down." Shelby snapped.

"This is unfair! You won't even let us explain." Rachel shouted and moved to storm off the stage. Shelby caught her by the arm before she could descend the first step and pulled Rachel close to her.

"Do not cop an attitude with me, young lady. You lower your voice and take a seat." Shelby ordered.

"You don't scare me." Rachel narrowed her eyes.

"We'll see if that changes when I get you home." Shelby said. Rachel flinched just slightly and Shelby smirked. "I suggest you take your seat with your mouth closed."

"If you would just listen." Rachel angrily whined.

"Go sit down." Shelby said, growing very tired of having to tell her more than once to sit down.

Rachel, though still very frustrated that Shelby wasn't letting her talk, spun on her heel and stomped down the stairs. She sat down and watched as Shelby turned to Ava, asking the girl why she was still standing on the stage. Ava, taking a smarter and much safer road than Rachel, said nothing and scampered off the stage, sitting between Rachel and Santana. Shelby could literally hear the gulps and scared whimpers as she descended the stairs, coming to stand in front of the glee girls.

"In case you aren't aware, I am very upset with each and every one of you. The song, the choreography, and most importantly, the outfits are NOT school appropriate. I am sure Mr. Shuester didn't approve of this. No?"

"He didn't know." Tina quietly said.

"I figured." Shelby said. "I am giving you all three days detention, both morning and after school starting tomorrow at a quarter to seven. Be here on time or you ALL will be serving another day of detentions. Do I make myself clear?"

The girls nodded and muttered a few yes's. Shelby placed a hand on her hip and straightened her spine.

"Now, who's idea was this?" Shelby asked. No one said a thing. "Keep in mind, that I will find out the answer. It's in your best interest that you tell me now and not let me find out on my own later."

Shelby scanned the row of ladies, raising her brow when no one came forward.

"If no one wants to tell me, then I will have to choice to ban all of you from sectionals and not just who came up with the idea." Shelby's head turned to the right, when she saw someone stand up. "Ava?"

"It was my idea. No one else." The girl said.

"What's going on here?" Will asked, walking down the aisle to stand by Shelby. The two talked quietly for a second as Rachel tugged Ava back into her seat.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rachel hissed at her sister.

"You can't be banned from sectionals."

"She's going to kill you." Rachel said.

"Rach, it's getting hard for me to dance anyway without needing a break. I'll take the blame and miss out on sectionals." Ava whispered back.

"Rachel, Ava, Let's go." Shelby said, motioning for the girls to stand up. "Go get your clothes and meet me ladies bathroom down the hall."

Ava and Rachel collected their things, taking their time, hoping their mom would chill some. Shelby was standing just inside the bathroom when the girls walked in. Rachel slipped by Shelby and ducked quickly into a stall to change. Ava side stepped Shelby, unable to look her in the eyes. Shelby's hand flew out, making a loud smacking noise at it connected with Ava's lace covered backside. Even the cotton of the purple robe didn't provide any sort of cushion and Ava whimpered.

Of course it had to be one of her children. Shelby shook her head and leaned against the sink as she waited for the twins to get changed.

It was going to be an eventful evening.


End file.
